fogueira

Forms

fogueira f (plural fogueiras)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote fogueira and fogueyra.^[2][3][4] Houaiss and Cunha record fugueyra in the 14th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *focāria, which Houaiss and Cunha take as Latin focāria (“kitchen maid”) with a changed sense; it was written Old Galician-Portuguese fogueira in the oldest texts.^[3][4][1] Wiktionary derives the Vulgar Latin noun from the adjective focārius (“of the hearth”).^[1] Aurélio hesitates between the Latin word and a Portuguese formation, and the DLP and Michaelis derive it within Portuguese, from Portuguese fogo + -eira.^[5][6][7]

Wiktionary compares Spanish hoguera, which Corominas records from the first half of the 13th century.^[1][8] Estraviz has Galician fogueira among the Galician words for fire.^[9]

All go back to focus (“hearth, fireplace”), which in imperial Latin also came to mean “fire”, taking the place of ignis.^[10][11] Its origin is uncertain: de Vaan rejects the connection with fax (“torch”), and Wiktionary notes the comparison with Old Armenian բոց (bocʻ, “flame”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Two of the 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria have the word: na fogueira / d'inferno “in the fire of hell”, and travellers who sat todos a hũa fogueyra … a derredor “all around a fire”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old legal language used fogueira for a household as a unit of taxation, like fogo: the charter given to Tavares in 1514 converts the measure of grain that its fogueiras paid, and Morais (1813) records fogueiras as farms and crown lands that paid hearth dues.^[12][13] Houaiss and Figueiredo keep this as an old sense, “home, house”.^[3][14]

The bonfire for burning the condemned gave a sense of its own, and the word is used figuratively for ardour and for an awkward situation.^[3][15] The DLP describes the bonfire lit on the eve of a saint's feast, which young people jump over.^[6] Railway and building usage calls fogueira a crib of sleepers laid crosswise in pairs, and in Brazil it names a reef fish (Myripristis jacobus).^[3][7]

Timeline

• 13th century – fogueira and fogueyra in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2]
• 14th century – the spelling fugueyra.^[3][4]
• 1514 – the charter of Tavares mentions the dues of its fogueiras.^[12]
• 1697 – Pereira renders fogueira by Latin pyra and rogus.^[16]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as a fire of gorse or other wood that gives a great blaze.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais: burning matter in a great blaze or bed of embers.^[18]
• 1871 – Vieira derives it from Latin focarius.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bonfire: a pile of wood or other fuel set alight: Acenderam uma fogueira na praia.^[3][5][1]
2. The burning pile on which the condemned were burnt alive; the stake.^[3][1]
3. Fire, a blaze; the fire of a hearth.^[3][20]
4. (figurative) A difficult or embarrassing situation.^[3]
5. (figurative) ardour, excitement.^[3][20]
6. A crib of railway sleepers laid crosswise in pairs to support a high point.^[3][7]
7. (obsolete) A household, home.^[3][14]
8. (Brazil, ichthyology) A reddish reef fish, Myripristis jacobus.^[3]

Related words

• fogo
• fogaréu
• foco
• Latin focus
• Spanish hoguera

Usage notes

In Brazilian football dar na fogueira means the same as dar no fogo.^[3] pular uma fogueira is to get past an obstacle or an awkward situation.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. fogueira
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fogueira
4. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fogueira
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fogueira
6. ^ a b 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. fogueira
7. ^ 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. fogueira
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fuego
9. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. fogo
10. ^ 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, p. s.v. focus
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. feu
12. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 42
13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 42
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. fogueira
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4376
16. ^ 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. fogueira
17. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fogueira
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, 623
19. ^ 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, 718
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. fogueira