forca

Forms

forca f (plural forcas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin furca (“fork, forked stake; gallows”), written Old Galician-Portuguese forca in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Houaiss calls it the popular outcome of the Latin noun, whose senses already ranged from a farmer's fork and a forked prop to the gallows.^[2] The same Latin word is Galician forca, Spanish horca, Catalan forca, French fourche, Italian forca and Romanian furcă.^[4][1] Corominas explains the gallows sense from the forked stake driven into the ground on which the condemned were hanged, a name kept when the gallows changed its shape.^[5]

The origin of the Latin noun is unknown.^[6][7] De Vaan finds that the etymologies proposed all presuppose an initial sound that would not give f- in Latin.^[8] Wiktionary mentions a root *ǵʰerk- “fork” for the sense “fork”, and for the other senses perhaps a link with *furkaz (“stake, pole”), but calls the word of uncertain origin.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A place name Forca is recorded in 1258.^[9] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word is already the gallows: one miracle tells how Holy Mary kept a thief que non morresse na forca “so that he did not die on the gallows”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The gallows sense has been the main one since the 13th century;^[10] Bluteau describes two posts with a crossbeam on which the hangman hangs the condemned.^[9][11] By metonymy the word also came to mean the punishment and the rope, and figuratively a snare or trap.^[2][12] The older sense of the Latin noun lives on in forca “pitchfork”, a synonym of forcado, and in the sense “mountain pass”, as in the forcas caudinas, the Caudine Forks where the Romans had to surrender.^[2][13]

Later senses are regional or technical: a country tavern in Bahia, a fork for eating on the Azorean island of Flores, a printer's broken line at the top of a page, and in Brazil the word-guessing game called hangman.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1258 – Forca as a place name.^[9]
• 13th century – na forca “on the gallows” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[9]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) has the word.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders forca by Latin crux.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives Latin furca and patibulum.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais describes the gallows of two or three posts with crossbeams.^[17]
• 1881 – the first Caldas Aulete records the Flores sense “table fork”.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo adds “rope with which one is hanged” and “snare”.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. gallows: a frame or beam with a rope and running noose used to hang the condemned.^[2][19][1]
2. Death by hanging, the punishment itself: morrer na forca.^[2][13]
3. The place of execution; patíbulo, cadafalso.^[2]
4. (figurative) A snare, trap, ruse.^[2][19]
5. A pitchfork, forcado.^[2][13]
6. A mountain pass, desfiladeiro.^[2][19]
7. (Bahia, informal) A small country shop or tavern.^[2][10]
8. (Azores: Flores) A table fork, garfo.^[2][12][20]
9. (Brazil, football) A gallows-like frame with a hanging ball, used to practise headers.^[2]
10. (printing) A broken line left at the top of a page.^[2][19]
11. (games) hangman, the word-guessing game.^[2][1]

Word family

• enforcar
• enforcado
• forcado
• forquear

Related words

• forquilha
• bifurcar
• Latin furca
• Galician forca
• Spanish horca

Usage notes

Wiktionary takes the Azorean forca “table fork” for a borrowing of the English word fork;^[1] Houaiss and Aulete list it among the senses of this word.^[1][2][12]

Forcas caudinas “Caudine Forks” is used figuratively for a humiliating concession forced on the loser.^[2]

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 l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. forca
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. forca
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 391
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. fourche
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e 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. forca
10. ^ a b c Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. forca
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. forca
12. ^ a b c d 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. forca
13. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. forca
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. forca
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. forca
16. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. forca
17. ^ 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, 626
18. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 625
19. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. forca
20. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. forca