flanco

Forms

flanco m (plural flancos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French flanc (“flank, side of the body”), first as a military term.^[2][3][4][1] Bluteau already explained it as a term of fortification taken from the French word for the side of an animal, especially of a horse.^[5]

The French word goes back to Frankish *hlanka (“hip; side of the body”).^[2][6] The DHLF thinks it was remade around 1080 on the older Old French flanche.^[6] The Frankish word has cognates in Old High German hlanca (“hip”), Old Saxon hlanka (“hip, thigh”) and Old Norse hlekkr (“link”), from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“flexible, bent”).^[7][1] A root Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend”) has been proposed, though the word has no certain cognates outside Germanic.^[1]

Older dictionaries derived it from Latin flaccus (“flabby”), an explanation Nascentes reports and rejects.^[8][9] Gonçalves Viana held it to be a Gallicism that was Portuguese only as a term of tactics.^[10] Spanish flanco was borrowed from French too, about 1700, also as a term of war, heraldry and fortification.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss's first date, 1649, is for the military sense.^[2] The dictionaries of the 18th century know only the fortification, the part of a bastion between its face and the curtain wall.^[5][12] Vieira adds the side of a line of troops.^[13] The original Caldas Aulete has the side of the human and animal body, the side of a ship, a woman's womb, and the weak or accessible point, as in dar flanco.^[14] Football, geology and engineering have since taken the word for a side or slope of anything.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 1649 – Houaiss's first date, for the military sense.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau explains flanco as a term of fortification from French flanc.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais defines only the fortification sense.^[12]
• 1813 – Cunha's date for the side of a body of troops.^[3]
• 1871 – Vieira adds the side of a line of troops to the fortification sense.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo also gives the side of a ship and a weak point.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The side of anything.^[2][16]
2. (anatomy) Each side of the human body between the hips and the ribs; ilharga.^[2][17]
3. The side of an animal's body: O cavalo tinha os flancos cobertos de suor.^[2][15]
4. (fortification) The part of a bastion between its face and the curtain wall.^[2][16]
5. (military) The side of an army or of a body of troops.^[2][16]
6. (football) The side of the pitch, the wing.^[2][14]
7. (geology) Each limb of a fold.^[2]
8. (nautical) The side of a ship.^[15][18]
9. A weak or accessible point.^[2][16]

Related words

• flanquear
• French flanc
• Spanish flanco

Usage notes

Dar flanco means to show one's weak point and so give occasion for attack or criticism, and de flanco means “from the side, sideways”.^[2][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. flanco
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. flanco
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. flanco
5. ^ 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. flanco
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. flanc
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 174
8. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 618
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 219
10. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. flanco
11. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 908
12. ^ a b 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, 620
13. ^ 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, 705
14. ^ 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. flanco
15. ^ a b c 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. flanco
16. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. flanco
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4340
18. ^ 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. flanco