ferreiro

Forms

ferreiro m (plural ferreiros, feminine ferreira, feminine plural ferreiras)^[1] Houaiss records ferreyro in the 14th century and fferreyro in the 15th.^[2] Feijó (1734) warns against the spelling firreiro.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ferrārius (“blacksmith”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ferreiro in the oldest texts.^[1][4][5] Houaiss, Aurélio, Nascentes and Vieira instead analyse it as formed from Portuguese ferro + -eiro.^[2][6][7][8] The Latin word was formed from ferrum (“iron”).^[1][9]

The same Latin word is Galician ferreiro, Spanish herrero, Catalan ferrer, Italian ferraio and Romanian fierar.^[5][10][1]

De Vaan takes the Latin word for iron as a loan from an unknown source, possibly a Phoenician dialect, comparing the Semitic words for iron.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the word to the 13th century and Houaiss to the 14th.^[11][2] Notarial registers of Noia in Galicia name ferreyro and ferreiro witnesses from 1376 on.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Besides the smith, the word came to name birds and other animals whose call recalls the hammer on the anvil: Bluteau (1712–1728) already has ferreiro or ferreirinho for a small black and white bird.^[13][7] In Brazil it is the bellbird (araponga), a tree frog and several fishes, and as an adjective it describes animals with mouse-coloured coats.^[2][6] Bluteau collects proverbs such as em casa de ferreiro, peior apeiro; the modern form of the saying is em casa de ferreiro, espeto de pau “in the smith's house, a wooden spit”.^[13][14]

Wiktionary records pereru as a borrowing in Old Tupi.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record.^[11]
• 14th century – ferreiro and ferreyro.^[2]
• 1376 – ferreyro in a notarial register of Noia.^[12]
• 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires uses the word.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it as Latin faber ferrarius.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau collects proverbs about the smith and names a small bird ferreiro.^[13]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes ferreiro, not firreiro.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A blacksmith, a craftsman who works iron (ferro).^[2][4][1]
2. A seller of ironware, an ironmonger.^[4][6]
3. (Portugal) Any of several small birds, among them the black redstart and the great tit.^[14][17][18]
4. (Brazil) The bellbird, the araponga.^[2][6]
5. (Brazil) A tree frog, Hyla faber, whose call sounds like a hammer on an anvil.^[2][4]
6. Any of several fishes: in Portugal a sea bream, Pagellus mormyrus; in Brazil the roncador and other species.^[2][19]
7. (Brazil, slang) A dog.^[2][19]

Adjective

1. (Brazil) Of an animal: having a mouse-coloured coat.^[2][6][4]

Related words

• ferro
• ferraria
• Latin ferrārius
• Galician ferreiro
• Spanish herrero

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 i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ferreiro
3. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ferreiro
4. ^ a b c d e 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. ferreiro
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3257
6. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ferreiro
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ferreiro
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ferrarius
11. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ferreiro
12. ^ 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. ferreiro
13. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ferreiro
14. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4256
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ferreiro
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ferreiro
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ferreiro
18. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org
19. ^ 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. ferreiro