fuste

Forms

fuste m (plural fustes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fūstis (“stick, cudgel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fuste in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][5] The same Latin word is Galician fuste, Spanish fuste, Catalan fust, French fût, Italian fusto and Romanian fuște.^[6][1]

The origin of the Latin word is disputed.^[1] De Vaan connects it with *fūtō (“to strike”), although the regular outcome of that root would have had /ss/.^[7][1] Others refer it, through an earlier *fondtis, to Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to strike, kill”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of 1009 and 1101 already have a place name mons fuste.^[5] In the vernacular the word appears in the Cantigas de Santa Maria: lle fezera de fust' … hũa arca “had made him a wooden chest”.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval language fuste meant wood and a wooden shaft: the Crónica Troiana has warriors who drove os ferros con os fustes “the iron heads with their shafts” through the bodies, and a cantiga d'escarnho speaks of a maça de fuste, a wooden mace.^[5] Viterbo describes a legal use: the stick a judge gave his porter as his token for serving summonses, as in a law of Afonso II.^[9] Bluteau (1712–1728) and Feijó (1734) know it only as the goldsmith's stick with bitumen on one end, and Morais (1789) adds the shaft of a column.^[10][11][12] Later dictionaries add the bole of a tree, the body of a drum and the part of a rifle stock that holds the barrel.^[2][4] In northern Portugal the word survives for kindling and bundles of sticks, and in the Minho for a stave vessel for wine.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1009 – a Latin charter has the place name subtus mons fuste.^[5]
• 1152 – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 13th century – fust' in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][5]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (witness 1390–1437) uses the word.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records it as a goldsmith's term.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais adds the shaft of a column.^[12]
• 1813 – Morais quotes armas de fuste e ferro “weapons of wood and iron” from the Ordenações.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long, thin piece of wood; a stick or rod.^[2][4][1]
2. The wooden haft of a lance, pike or similar weapon; a handle.^[2][17]
3. A small stick with bitumen on one end, with which goldsmiths hold small pieces while engraving them.^[2][14]
4. (architecture) The shaft of a column, between the base and the capitel.^[2][18]
5. (botany) The part of a tree trunk below the first branches, used for timber; the bole.^[2][19]
6. (music) The body of a drum.^[2][4]
7. (nautical) A piece used to prop a ship's masts.^[4][19]
8. (regional, Portugal) Kindling; a bundle of sticks.^[2][13]

Related words

• Latin fūstis
• Spanish fuste

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fuste
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fuste
4. ^ a b c d e 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. fuste
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. fuste
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3618
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. fuste
9. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 44
10. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fuste
11. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fuste
12. ^ 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, 646
13. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. fuste
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. fuste
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. fuste
16. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 71
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. fuste
18. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fuste
19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4543