fivela

Forms

fivela f (plural fivelas)^[1] The 15th-century texts write fivella and fyvella.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fībella (“small pin, clasp”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fivela in the oldest texts.^[2][1][4] The Vulgar Latin word stands for Latin fībula (“clasp, buckle, pin”) with a change of suffix, a diminutive in -ella.^[2][5][1] A learned doublet was borrowed later from the same Latin noun.^[1]

The same Vulgar Latin form is Galician fibela, Spanish hebilla, Catalan sivella and Old Occitan fivela.^[5][1] The old Spanish form is Old Spanish fiviella, found in a document of 1258.^[6] The plain Latin noun lives on in Italian fibbia.^[7]

The Latin noun is formed from the root of fīgō (“to fix, fasten”) with the instrumental suffix -bula.^[8][1] Wiktionary takes it as a contraction of *fīvibula, from the archaic fīvō.^[1] Houaiss connects it instead with the Latin adjective for “at the extremity”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1253, citing the Leges.^[2] In a cantiga it is the buckle of a horse's harness: a bad saddle “breaks the breast-strap where the buckle holds it” (quebra o peitoral / per u se ten a fivela).^[9]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) render it by Latin fibula.^[10][11] Bluteau describes the parts of a buckle, the ring, the bar, the tongue and the hinge, and Morais (1813) names its uses: fastening shoes, the garters of breeches and the neckband.^[12][13] Vieira quotes the Hyssope of Diniz da Cruz on shoe buckles set with precious stones, and the old Aulete has a sense for ornamental buckles on shoes and hats.^[14][15]

Brazilian Portuguese uses the word also for a hair clip.^[2][16] Wiktionary lists a Konkani borrowing of it.^[1]

Timeline

• 1253 – Houaiss's first date for the word, from the Leges.^[2]
• 15th century – the spellings fivella and fyvella.^[3][2]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary renders fivela by Latin fibula.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman has prender com fivela “to fasten with a buckle”.^[17]
• 1783 – first record of the verb afivelar, spelt affibélar.^[18]
• 1813 – Morais lists the buckle's uses on shoes, garters and neckbands.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A buckle: a metal or other frame with one or more tongues, used to join the two ends of a belt, strap or band.^[2][19][1]
2. An ornament shaped like a buckle, worn on shoes, hats or clothes.^[2][16]
3. (Brazil) A hair clip or barrette.^[2][16][15]

Word family

• afivelar
• desafivelar
• fiveleta

Related words

• fíbula
• Latin fībula
• Galician fibela
• Spanish hebilla

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 k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fivela
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fivela
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. fivela
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. *fibella
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 335
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. fibula
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. fībula
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. fivela
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fivela
11. ^ 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. fivela
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fivéla
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 37
14. ^ 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, 703
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. fivela
16. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fivela
17. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fivela
18. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. afivelar
19. ^ 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. fivela