fuso

Forms

fuso m (plural fusos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fūsus (“spindle”).^[2][3][4][1]

The same Latin word is Galician fuso, Spanish huso, Catalan fus, Italian fuso and Romanian fus;^[5][6][1] French replaced its Old French fus with the diminutive French fuseau.^[5][6][1] The old Spanish form was fuso.^[7]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown: the OLD marks it doubtful, and Wiktionary suggests a non-Indo-European substrate.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 15th century, and Cunha dates fuseiro “spindle-maker” to the 13th.^[2][3] A Galician-Portuguese cantiga already uses the phrase melhor fuso encher, literally “to fill a better spindle”, for doing a good piece of work: nunca vós melhor fuso enchades.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) already has fuso de lagar, the screw of a wine press, and Bluteau distinguishes the open spindle, the iron-tipped spindle and the thicker spindle for twisting thread.^[10][11] Figueiredo (1899) adds the spherical lune of geometry, the butcher's tool for killing sheep and a sea snail.^[12] Later senses include the fusee of a watch, the spindle of cell division and the time zone (fuso horário), now often called simply fuso.^[2][1] In north-eastern Brazil it is the wooden screw of the cassava-flour press.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 13th century – Cunha's date for fuseiro “spindle-maker”.^[3]
• 15th century – first record of fuso.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary gives Latin fusus.^[14]
• 1611 – Barbosa has fuso de lagar, the screw of a press.^[10]
• 1881 – Cunha's date for fuseira “large spindle”.^[3]
• 1899 – Figueiredo adds the geometric sense.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spindle: a small rounded wooden rod, thick in the middle and pointed at the ends, on which thread is twisted and wound when spinning with a distaff (roca).^[2][15][1]
2. The screw of a wine or olive press.^[16][17]
3. The part of a watch round which the chain or spring is wound; a fusee.^[2][18]
4. A butcher's instrument for killing sheep.^[2][18]
5. (north-eastern Brazil) The wooden screw of the press in a casa de farinha, a cassava-flour mill.^[2][13]
6. (biology) The bundle of fibres that moves the chromosomes (cromossomo) during cell division.^[2][19]
7. (geometry) A lune: the part of a sphere's surface between two great semicircles with a common diameter.^[2][18]
8. Short for fuso horário, a time zone.^[1][2]

Word family

• fuseira
• fuseiro
• fuso horário

Related words

• Latin fūsus
• Galician fuso
• Spanish huso

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. fuso
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fuso
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. fuso
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3620
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. fuseau
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 434
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. fuso
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fuso
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fuso
12. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. fuso
13. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. fuso
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fuso
15. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fuso
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4542
17. ^ 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. fuso
18. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. fuso
19. ^ 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. fuso