garra

Forms

garra f (plural garras)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2] Corominas holds that it is borrowed from Spanish garra: the sense “claw” is native only to Castile, and spread into Portuguese from the south, where the older words for a paw were gadanho, gafa and unha.^[3] He takes the Spanish word to be the later form of medieval Old Spanish garfa, which he derives from Andalusian Arabic جَارْفَا (gārfā, “handful”), a noun of the root of Arabic غَرَفَ (ḡarafa, “to ladle, draw water”), with the meaning influenced by Spanish garfio (“hook”).^[3][4][1] Aurélio also considers it possibly Spanish.^[5]

Houaiss sees a pre-Roman Celtic word for “hand or paw” crossed with the Arabic verb, with the sense shaped by the Spanish noun.^[2] Cunha, Michaelis and the DLP derive it simply from the Celtic word.^[6][7][8] This is the word that Meyer-Lübke reconstructed as Gaulish *garrā (“leg”), from Proto-Celtic *garros, compared with Welsh gar (“thigh”) and Breton gar, and that gave French jarret and Occitan garra.^[9][10][1] Corominas keeps it apart from the word for the claw.^[3]

The Spanish word is first recorded in 1570, three years after Houaiss's first Portuguese record.^[2][3] Corominas notes that garfa also exists in the Portuguese dialects, for a handful of grain or a small swarm of bees.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) gives three senses: the claws of birds of prey and beasts, the long hair round the fetlocks of some horses, and the ends that glovers cut from sheepskins, from which painters make a strong glue.^[11] Morais (1789) repeats them, describing the last as the part of the hide that covered the animal's feet.^[12] Figueiredo (1899) adds the tendril of a plant and the figurative sense “tyranny”, and calls the origin uncertain.^[13]

The modern figurative senses “willpower, determination” and “vigour, enthusiasm” are recorded by Houaiss and Aurélio.^[2][5] In Portugal the word also means leather of poor quality, and in Rio Grande do Sul, in the plural, old worn harness.^[2]

Timeline

• 1567 – Houaiss's first record.^[2]
• 1570 – Spanish garra first recorded.^[3]
• 1712 – Bluteau records the claws of birds of prey and the long hair round a horse's fetlock.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais adds the part of a hide that covered the feet.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo calls its origin uncertain.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A claw: the long, curved, pointed nail of birds of prey, cats and other animals.^[2][1][5]
2. (zoology) A curved, pointed part at the end of an insect's limb.^[2]
3. (usually plural) A person's hands, especially when grabbing violently.^[2][14]
4. Any object shaped like a claw or used to grip; the metal prong that holds a jewel.^[2][8]
5. (figurative) determination, willpower, persistence.^[2][1][5]
6. (figurative) Great vigour or enthusiasm.^[2][5]
7. (figurative) Harsh power; tyranny.^[2][5]
8. Greed, rapacity.^[2][8]
9. (Portugal) Leather or sole leather of poor quality.^[2]
10. The long hair round the fetlocks of a horse.^[2][5]
11. (informal) A tendril.^[2][14]
12. (plural) The hard ends of a hide;^[2][14] (Rio Grande do Sul) old, worn harness.^[2][14]

Word family

• agarrar
• desgarrar

Related words

• garfo
• Spanish garra
• Old Spanish garfa

Usage notes

A separate noun garra, the act of dragging an anchor, is a back-formation from garrar, first recorded in 1881; hence ir à garra or estar à garra “to drift, to be lost”.^[2][6][5][8] The DLP and Priberam also record a regional adjective garra, said of a fat sow or of a dirty woman, which the DLP derives from a Castilian guarra.^[8][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. garra
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 102
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. garra
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. garra
6. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. garra
7. ^ 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. garra
8. ^ 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. garra
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3690
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 236
11. ^ 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. garra
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, 653
13. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 655
14. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. garra