flor

Forms

flor f (plural flores)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese had flor, frol and fror side by side (plural frores, froles).^[2][3][4] Pereira (1697) still heads the word Flor, ou frol; the spelling flôr with a circumflex and the dialect forms chor and fulô are also found.^[5][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin flōs (“flower”), taken by the learned route, as Houaiss, Aurélio and Wiktionary say, and recorded from the 13th century as Old Galician-Portuguese flor, Old Galician-Portuguese frol and Old Galician-Portuguese fror.^[2][3][6][1] The regular popular outcome of Latin ⟨fl-⟩ was ⟨ch-⟩: Trás-os-Montes chor, which survives in the derivatives chorudo and chorume.^[2][7][8] Nascentes explains the forms with ⟨r⟩ by dissimilation.^[7] Corominas explains the learned form of flor by the many figurative uses of the word and the influence of the litanies.^[9]

The same Latin word is Galician flor, Catalan flor, French fleur, Italian fiore and Romanian floare.^[8][1]

The Latin word is from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃s, from the root *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom”).^[1] De Vaan compares Old English blōwan (“to bloom”) and Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐍉𐌼𐌰 (blōma, “flower”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria already have flor, frol and fror.^[11][4] King Denis sang of os que troban no tenpo da frol “those who make songs in the time of flowers”, and the cantigas d'amigo speak of frores d'amor, perhaps a woman's first love.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant both the flower and the best of something: the Galician Crónica Troiana calls certain knights as flores de todos los outros “the flower of all the others”.^[11] The form frol was still used by Gil Vicente in the 16th century, and the surname Fróis keeps the old plural froes.^[7]

Morais (1813) records a flor da idade, the prime of life, and the flower imitated in painting, carving or embroidery.^[12] Folqman (1755) gives à flor da terra “at the surface of the ground”, the origin of the phrase à flor de “on the surface of”.^[13] Figueiredo (1899) adds the mould on the surface of wine, the grain side of leather, and the finest part of a whole.^[14] In Bahia flor is the clear first oil of the dendê palm.^[15] The word passed into Kabuverdianu and Papiamentu as flor and flor.^[1]

Timeline

• 1200s – flor, frol and fror in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the songs of King Denis.^[2][3][4]
• c. 1430 – flor in the Horto do Esposo.^[16]
• 1400s – rrefroreçer “to bloom again”.^[3]
• 1500s – first records of desflorar and of frolido “in flower”.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists florzinha.^[17]
• 1697 – Pereira heads the word Flor, ou frol.^[5]
• 1755 – Folqman records à flor da terra and flor da farinha.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais records a flor da idade; first record of florista.^[12][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A flower, the reproductive organ of the flowering plants, with calyx, corolla, stamens and pistil.^[2][1]
2. A plant grown for its flowers: Regou as flores da varanda.^[2][18]
3. The best, finest part of something; the elite: a fina flor da sociedade.^[2][14]
4. The prime of life, youth: na flor da idade.^[2][12]
5. A kind, lovely person: Aquela senhora é uma flor.^[2][1]
6. An ornament or object made to look like a flower.^[2][18]
7. The mould that forms on the surface of wine and other liquids.^[2][14]
8. The grain side of leather, opposite the flesh side.^[2][14]
9. (Bahia) The clear, fine oil of the dendê palm, as opposed to the dregs.^[15]

Word family

• florido
• florir
• florista
• florear
• florar
• aflorar
• desflorar
• beija-flor
• florzinha
• flor-de-lis

Related words

• chorudo
• chorume
• flora
• floração
• floral
• florão
• florescer
• floricultura
• chor
• Latin flōs
• Galician flor

Usage notes

À flor de means “on the surface of” (à flor da pele, “skin-deep, on edge”), and não ser flor que se cheire is said of someone who cannot be trusted.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. flor
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. flor
4. ^ a b c d 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. frol
5. ^ a b 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. flor
6. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. flor
7. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. flor
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3382
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 917
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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. flor
12. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 39
13. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. flor
14. ^ a b c d Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. flor
15. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. flor
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. flor
17. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. flor
18. ^ 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. flor