fel

Forms

fel m (plural féis or feles)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling fell in the 15th century.^[2] The plural is féis or feles.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *felem, from Latin fel (“bile, gall”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fel in the oldest texts.^[2][5][1] The Vulgar Latin form added a final vowel to the Latin neuter and made it masculine or feminine, as with *corem “heart” and *melem “honey”.^[1] Portuguese and Catalan kept the word masculine, while Castilian made it feminine.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician fel, Spanish hiel, Catalan fel, French fiel, Italian fiele and Romanian fiere.^[7][1] The old and dialectal Spanish form was Old Spanish fiel.^[7][6]

De Vaan finds the etymology of the Latin word uncertain; he compares Ancient Greek χολή (kholḗ, “bile”), χόλος (khólos, “gall, wrath”) and the Germanic word for gall, Proto-Germanic *gallōn-, from a root Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-.^[8] Wiktionary gives that root the meaning “green” and mentions *bʰel- “yellow” as an alternative.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the word for the drink given to Christ on the cross: azed' e fel lle deron “they gave him vinegar and gall”, and u beveu fel e azedo “where he drank gall and vinegar”.^[9][2] The sense is the bitter fluid, already with the overtone of bitterness and suffering.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The pairing of gall and vinegar from the Passion lasted: Vieira quotes Camões on the Son who quenched his thirst “with loathsome gall and bitter vinegar”.^[10] Bluteau's book of synonyms (1712–1728) already gives the figurative senses “bitterness, displeasure, hatred, rancour”.^[11] Caldas Aulete's original dictionary records the phrases pomba sem fel “a dove without gall”, said of an innocent person, and fazer alguém de fel e vinagre “to make someone of gall and vinegar”, to wear out someone's patience.^[12]

Figueiredo (1899) gives fel-da-terra as a popular name of the lesser centaury, and Michaelis records it for several plants in Brazil.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of the gall and vinegar of the Passion.^[9][2]
• c. 1430 – first record in the CTA corpus, in the Horto do Esposo (witness 1390–1437).^[15]
• 15th century – Houaiss records the spelling fell.^[2]
• 1562 – Cardoso's first dictionary lists Fel with Latin fel, fellis.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau's synonyms give the figurative senses of bitterness and rancour.^[11]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records fel-da-terra as a plant name.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. Bile (bile), gall: the bitter fluid secreted by the liver.^[2][3][1]
2. The gall bladder, which holds this fluid.^[2][17]
3. A bitter taste; anything very bitter: Este xarope é puro fel.^[2][3][1]
4. (figurative) bitterness, ill humour, resentment.^[2][4][1]
5. (figurative) Rancour, hatred (ódio), aversion.^[2][18]
6. (botany, Brazil) A parasitic plant, Lophophytum mirabile.^[14]

Word family

• féleo

Related words

• bile
• Latin fel
• Spanish hiel

Usage notes

The phrase fazer alguém de fel e vinagre means to tease or annoy someone greatly.^[17][18] A pomba sem fel is a person without malice.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fel
3. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fel
4. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. fel
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fel
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 353
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. fel
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. fel
10. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 631
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fel
12. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. fel
13. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. fel
14. ^ a b Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. fel
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. fel
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1562), Dictionarium juventuti studiosae admodum frugiferum, Coimbra: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fel
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4233
18. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. fel