fevereiro

Forms

fevereiro m (plural fevereiros)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote febreyro, feuereyro, feuereiro and freueyro; the Cantigas de Santa Maria have febreyro (the manuscript frebreyro).^[2][3] Houaiss dates febreyro to the 13th century and fevereiro to the 15th, but Lorenzo found feuereiro in Portuguese charters from 1267.^[4][2] Cunha records ffeuereiro in the 13th century.^[5] Until the spelling agreements (1943 in Brazil, 1990 in Portugal) the month was written with a capital, Fevereiro.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin Febrārius, the popular form of the classical Latin Februārius (“(month) of purification”).^[5][1][4] The form without -u- appears in Latin inscriptions and in the Appendix Probi.^[6][7][8] Houaiss explains the second -e- of the Portuguese word as a vowel that probably grew between /v/ and /r/ (anaptyxis).^[4]

The Latin month was named after the Februa, the great feast of expiation and purification held on 15 February, from februum (“means of purification”).^[1][9] Until the time of the decemvirs it was the last month of the Roman year.^[9]

The same Latin word is Galician febreiro, Spanish febrero, Catalan febrer, French février, Italian febbraio and Romanian făurar.^[1][10][11] Corominas calls the Spanish word semi-learned, beside the popular Old Spanish hebrero of the classical authors.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters write kalendas feuerarias in 985 and kalendas feberarias in 991.^[2][4] The first vernacular records are datings in charters: mes de febreyro in a Galician one of 1256, no mes de feuereyro in 1259, and do mes de feuereiro in a Portuguese one from Portel of 1267.^[2][2]

Semantic evolution

The word names the month, which Barbosa (1611) also calls the intercalary month.^[12][4] Bluteau (1712–1728) collected its proverbs, such as Agoa de Fevereiro mata o onzeneiro “February rain kills the usurer”, and Fevereiro coxo, em seus dias vinte e outo “lame February, with its twenty-eight days”.^[13]

In Minas Gerais fevereiro is also a bird, the joão-bobo.^[4][14] The old Caldas Aulete records a vulgar sense “anus”, which Navarro still finds in Alagoas.^[15][16] The word passed into Indo-Portuguese (febrêr), Kabuverdianu (febreru), Tetum (fevereiru) and Konkani.^[1]

Timeline

• 985 – a Latin charter writes kalendas feuerarias.^[2][4]
• 1256 – mes de febreyro in a Galician charter.^[2]
• 1267 – do mes de feuereiro in a charter from Portel.^[2]
• 1272 – the variant ffreueyro.^[2]
• 1288 – vj dias de feuereyro in a document dated at Lisbon.^[2]
• 1395 – feuereiro in a notarial register of Noia.^[17]
• 15th century – Houaiss's first date for the spelling fevereiro.^[4]
• 1611 – Barbosa translates it as Februarius or the intercalary month.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau collects the February proverbs.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais: the second month of the year.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. February, the second month of the year, with 28 days, or 29 in a leap year.^[4][14][1]
2. (Minas Gerais) The joão-bobo, a bird (Nystalus chacuru).^[4][14]
3. (Brazil, vulgar, regional) The anus.^[15][16]

Related words

• Latin Februārius
• Galician febreiro
• Spanish febrero

Usage notes

Since the spelling agreements the names of the months are written in lower case (fevereiro); Fevereiro is the older spelling, still found where the 1990 agreement is not applied.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. febreyro
3. ^ 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. febreiro
4. ^ 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. fevereiro
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fevereiro
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. fevereiro
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 877
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. februarius
9. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. februarius
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. februarius
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. février
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fevereiro
13. ^ 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. fevereiro
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fevereiro
15. ^ 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. fevereiro
16. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. fevereiro
17. ^ 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. feuereiro
18. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 612