fuga

Forms

fuga f (plural fugas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fuga (“flight, running away”), first recorded in the 14th century.^[2][1] Cunha dates the word only to the 17th century.^[3] The Latin noun is related to the verb fugiō (“to flee”) and to Ancient Greek φυγή (phugḗ, “flight”).^[4][1] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Italic *fugā and Proto-Indo-European *bʰugéh₂.^[4][1]

The same learned word is Spanish fuga and Italian fuga; the inherited forms are Italian foga (“haste, ardour”) and Romanian fugă.^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

The musical sense “fugue” is a separate borrowing, from Italian fuga, where it is recorded in 1581.^[2][6] Houaiss and Aurélio give it its own article, and Houaiss dates it in Portuguese to 1713.^[2][6] Bluteau (1712–1728) describes it as a musicians' term for voices that follow one another after a pause.^[7] Nascentes notes that the word is Latin but the musical term Italian.^[8]

Morais (1789) records fuga de casas, a row of rooms with their doors in line, and the space in which a thing moves.^[9] Figueiredo (1899) lists the hole through which a bellows takes in air and the outlet of a still.^[10] Modern senses include the leak of a gas or liquid, the loss of electrical energy and, figuratively, a way out of a duty or a difficulty.^[2] In Brazil the word also means a margin left over and an opportunity.^[2] Wiktionary lists the expressions fuga de capitais “capital flight” and fuga de cérebros “brain drain”.^[1]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record.^[2]
• after 1450 – the Livro das tres vertudes uses the word.^[11]
• 1591 – fuga in a private letter.^[12]
• 1713 – first record of the musical sense.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais records fuga de casas.^[9]
• 1813 – Cunha's date for the musical sense.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. flight, escape: the act of running away.^[2][1]
2. A hasty retreat from a place under threat;^[2] (military) a rapid withdrawal of troops.^[2]
3. A leak of gas or liquid; a loss of electrical energy.^[2][1]
4. An illegal outflow, of information or of capital.^[13][1]
5. An opening through which gas or liquid escapes; the air hole of a pair of bellows (fole); the outlet of a still.^[2][6]
6. (figurative) A way out of a duty or difficulty; evasion.^[2][1]
7. (Brazil, figurative) A margin, what is left over; an opportunity.^[2]
8. (architecture) A row of rooms with their doors in line.^[2]
9. (music) A fugue.^[2][6][1]

Word family

• fuga de cérebros
• ponto de fuga

Related words

• fugir
• fugaz
• fugitivo
• refúgio
• Italian fuga

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fuga
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fuga
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. fuga
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3548
6. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fuga
7. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fuga
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. fuga
9. ^ 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, 640
10. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. fuga
11. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. fuga
12. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. fuga
13. ^ 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. fuga