galé

Forms

galé f (plural galés)^[1] The medieval form is galee (also gallee, galẽẽ), used from the 13th to the 15th century;^[2][3][4] galé (galle) appears from the 14th century, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria have galea.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French galee, first recorded about 1100, which goes back to Italian galea.^[3][4][5] Cunha traces the Italian word through Medieval Latin galea to Byzantine Greek, as do Aurélio and Michaelis.^[4][6][7] Wiktionary gives the chain as γάλεα (gálea), from γαλέη (galéē), a name of a sea creature, from γαλεός (galeós, “dogfish, shark”).^[1] Houaiss calls the origin of the Italian word doubtful, perhaps Byzantine.^[3]

Nocentini explains the Byzantine word, “fast transport ship”, as a metaphor from the name of a fish: the names of the weasel had passed to voracious sea animals, and the ship was a word shared by the languages of the Mediterranean.^[8] Corominas also thinks the galley was compared to this fish for its quick and nimble movements, and derives the fish's name from Ancient Greek γαλῆ (galê, “weasel”).^[9] The DLP and Porto Editora instead gloss the Byzantine word as “tortoise”.^[10][11] Bluteau in the 18th century already compared the older Italian and French forms, and saw the source in Byzantine Greek.^[12]

The same Byzantine word gave Old Spanish galea (later Spanish galera) and Italian galera, and French galère is the French word.^[9][8][1] The Galician form is still galea.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin document dated about 1255 already names the king's ships and galéés.^[2] The first Portuguese records are royal documents: a ship's carpenter, carpenteyro das galléés, in 1291, and as mhas casas das galéés “my galley houses” by the sea in 1294.^[2] The word meant the oared warship, and it is frequent in the 14th-century documents on the king's fleet and in Fernão Lopes's chronicle.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The galley was rowed by convicts, so the plural galés came to mean the sentence of rowing in them, and the word also became masculine for the convict himself; when galleys disappeared the penalty was turned into public works under the same name.^[13][3][14] Printers took the word for the tray in which composed lines of type are set, a use Nascentes explains as a comparison with the ship.^[3][5] Aulete adds a figurative sense, “exhausting work”.^[14] In north-eastern Brazil galé is also a natural pool left by reefs at low tide.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1255 – galéés in a Latin royal document.^[2]
• 1291 – carpenteyro das galléés;^[2] galéés again in 1294 and 1298.^[2]
• 13th century, second half – the Cantigas de Santa Maria write galea.^[2]
• 1361 – the spelling galles, which leads to the modern form.^[2]
• 1542 – galle in a private letter.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau discusses the origin of the word.^[12]
• 1755 – Folqman gives the Latin phrases for “to condemn someone to the galleys”.^[17]
• 1813 – Morais describes galleys of 15 to 50 oars a side and notes that the sentence to the galleys was now served in public works.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical, historical) A galley, a long, narrow, low ship driven mainly by oars, with two auxiliary sails, used from Greek antiquity to the end of the 18th century: A galé avançava a remos contra o vento.^[3][6][1]
2. (printing) A metal tray with raised edges on three sides on which the compositor sets the lines of type; in English also called a galley.^[3][10]
3. (masculine, historical) A convict sentenced to row in the galleys; a grilheta.^[3][10]
4. (in the plural) The penalty of rowing in the galleys; later, forced labour by chained prisoners.^[3][7]
5. (figurative) Extremely hard and exhausting work.^[14]
6. (north-eastern Brazil) A natural pool formed by a barrier of reefs at low tide.^[15]

Word family

• galeota
• galeote

Related words

• galeão
• galera
• Italian galea

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. galee
3. ^ 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. galé
4. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. galé
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. galé
6. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. galé
7. ^ a b 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. galé
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 34
10. ^ a b c 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. galé
11. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4570
12. ^ 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. galé
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 75
14. ^ a b c 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. galé
15. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. galé
16. ^ 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. galé
17. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. galé