ferramenta

Forms

ferramenta f (plural ferramentas)^[1] Houaiss records ferramenta and fferramenta in the 14th century, and a letter of 1503 writes feramẽta.^[2][3] Wiktionary lists the variant farramenta.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin ferrāmenta (“iron tools”), the neuter plural of Latin ferrāmentum (“an iron implement or tool”).^[2][4][1] The same Latin word is Galician ferramenta, Spanish herramienta, Catalan ferramenta, Italian ferramenta and French ferrement.^[5][6][7]

The Latin noun is formed from ferrum (“iron”) and the suffix -mentum.^[8][1] In Latin it named any iron tool, especially farm implements such as the hatchet, the axe and the sickle.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 14th century.^[2][4] In the Galician General Estoria one man brings “some tools that they had there” (algũas ferramentas que y tynam), and a Galician record of 1474 values “all the tools of the house” (toda a ferramenta da casa).^[10]

Semantic evolution

The early dictionaries gloss the word with Latin ferramenta or ferramentum: Cardoso (1562), Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697).^[11][12][13] Bluteau describes it as the iron instruments any craftsman uses, and Morais as the iron instruments of the various trades.^[14][15] Vieira (1871) separates ferramenta, the simple tools that work only by the movement of the hands, from the more complex instrumentos.^[16]

The word came to mean the whole kit of a trade and, figuratively, any means to an end.^[2][17] The old Caldas Aulete records two special senses: in pottery, a piece of cane used to decorate the ware, and in Ceará, the cowboy's spurs.^[18][19] In popular speech of Portugal and Brazil it is also a euphemism for the male genitals.^[20][21][1] In Afro-Brazilian religion the ferramenta de Ogum is a set of miniature iron tools and weapons, the emblem of the orixá Ogum.^[17]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, spelt ferramenta and fferramenta.^[2][4]
• 1474 – toda a ferramenta da casa in a Galician record.^[10]
• 1503 – feramẽta in a private letter.^[3]
• 1562 – Cardoso glosses the word as Latin ferramenta.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as the iron instruments of a craftsman.^[14]
• 1871 – Vieira distinguishes ferramenta from instrumento.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tool, especially a metal implement used in a craft or trade: O martelo e a serra são ferramentas.^[2][17][1]
2. The set of tools of a trade or profession.^[2][22][23]
3. (figurative) Any instrument or means used to reach an end.^[2][17][23]
4. (pottery) A piece of cane used to decorate pottery.^[22][18]
5. (Brazil, Ceará) Each of the cowboy's spurs.^[19][17]
6. (vulgar, euphemistic) The male genitals, the pénis.^[20][21][1]

Word family

• ferramental

Related words

• ferro
• ferrar
• Latin ferramentum
• Spanish herramienta

Usage notes

In Afro-Brazilian religion, ferramenta de Ogum is a set of 7, 14, 16 or 21 miniature iron tools, the symbol of the orixá Ogum.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ferramenta
3. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. ferramenta
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ferro
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ferramentum
7. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. herramienta
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b 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. ferramenta
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1562), Dictionarium juventuti studiosae admodum frugiferum, Coimbra: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ferramenta
12. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ferramenta
13. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ferramenta
14. ^ 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. ferramenta
15. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 14
16. ^ a b 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, 643
17. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ferramenta
18. ^ 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. ferramenta
19. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. ferramenta
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ferramenta
21. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro
22. ^ 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. ferramenta
23. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4254