formiga

Forms

formiga f (plural formigas, diminutive formiguinha or formigazinha, augmentative formigona or formigão m)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin formīca (“ant”), written Old Galician-Portuguese formiga in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1]

The same Latin word is Galician formiga, Spanish hormiga, Catalan formiga, Occitan formiga, French fourmi, Italian formica and Romanian furnică.^[5][6]

The Latin noun goes back to *mormīkā, with the first /m/ dissimilated to /f/.^[7][1] It belongs to the Indo-European word for “ant”, Proto-Indo-European *morwís, which has unusually divergent forms in the daughter languages, probably through taboo distortion: Ancient Greek μύρμηξ (múrmēx), Old Norse maurr, Old English mȳre and Sanskrit वम्र (vamrá).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[2][3] R. Lorenzo antedates Machado's 16th-century record with the Cantigas de Santa Maria, where someone would not give an ant for killing a man: que non dava por mata-lo sol hũa formiga.^[8] Another cantiga says of something so light that an ant could carry it (a trageria aqui ũa formiga).^[9]

Semantic evolution

Besides the insect, the word was soon used of people: the hard-working, thrifty person, the small person and the person with a sweet tooth.^[2][10][1] Priberam also has a rock just under the water, and a variety of pear.^[11][2] Vieira's dictionary (1871–1874) quotes the 18th-century Portugal Medico on the ant as one of the creatures from which remedies were drawn.^[12] Brazilian Portuguese has como formiga “in great numbers” and catar formiga “to fall flat on one's face”.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1200s – hũa formiga in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Formiga as Latin formica.^[13]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds Greek myrmex and the Latin adjectives for “of ants”.^[14]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira defines the ant as a genus of hymenopterous insects.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ant, any insect of the family Formicidae, living in colonies with queens, males and workers.^[2][10][1]
2. (figurative) A thrifty or hard-working person.^[2][10]
3. A small person.^[2][1]
4. A person who loves sweets.^[2][10][1]
5. A variety of pear.^[2][11]
6. A rock covered by the water.^[11]
7. (chess, informal) A player who knows the book lines but is lost when the opponent plays something original.^[2]

Word family

• formigueiro
• formigar
• formigão
• formiga-leão
• formiga-de-fogo
• antiformiga

Related words

• fórmico
• Latin formica
• Galician formiga
• Spanish hormiga

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. formiga
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. formiga
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. formiga
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. formica
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. formica
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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. formiga
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. formiga
10. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. formiga
11. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. formiga
12. ^ 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, 743
13. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. formiga
14. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. formiga