funcho

Forms

funcho m (plural funchos)^[1] The old forms were fuuncho and feuncho;^[1] fiolho and fruncho are variants.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fēnuculum (“fennel”), a by-form of classical Latin feniculum, the diminutive of fēnum (“hay”).^[2][3][4][5] Houaiss and Cunha mark the Late Latin form as unattested.^[2][3] Wiktionary sets out the path through Vulgar Latin *fēnuclum to the old forms Old Galician-Portuguese fuuncho and Old Galician-Portuguese feuncho.^[1] Nascentes, following Nunes, explains that the vowels fused into one /u/, which took on the nasality of the lost /n/, and that the Latin group /kl/ gave ⟨ch⟩.^[6][7] Bluteau already explained the Latin name: the plant looks like hay once it is dried.^[8]

The same Latin word is Galician fiúncho, Spanish hinojo, Catalan fonoll, French fenouil and Italian finocchio.^[9][6][1] De Vaan derives the Latin word for hay from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-no- (“yield”).^[10]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) distinguishes several kinds: funcho doce, funcho bravo, funcho de porco and funcho marinho.^[8] In Brazil the plant is also called erva-doce and anis-doce, and Aurélio notes it was probably brought by the first settlers for its medical value.^[11][4] The DLP also records funcho as a name of a small bird, the felosa.^[12] The place name Funchal comes from funchal “place where fennel grows”, recorded as funchall in the 15th century.^[13]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records.^[3]
• 15th century – funchall, a place where fennel grows.^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin foeniculum.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists the kinds of fennel and their medical uses.^[8]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira calls it a plant very common in Portugal.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. fennel, the aromatic plant Foeniculum vulgare of the umbellifer family, and other herbs of that genus.^[2][1]
2. Fennel as food: the bulb, leaves or stalks eaten as a vegetable, or the seeds used as a spice.^[1][16]
3. (Portugal, zoology) A small songbird, the felosa.^[12]

Word family

• funchal

Related words

• feno
• fiolho
• Latin fēnum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. funcho
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. funcho
4. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. funcho
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 365
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 229
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. funcho
8. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. funcho
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3246
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. ^ 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. funcho
12. ^ 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. funcho
13. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. funchal
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. funcho
15. ^ 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, 794
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4522