gengiva

Forms

gengiva f (plural gengivas)^[1] Houaiss and Cunha record the 15th-century spelling gingiua.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712–1728) heads the word gengiva, ou gingiva.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gingīva (“gum”), written Old Galician-Portuguese gingiua in the oldest records.^[2][3][5][1]

The same Latin word is Spanish encía, Catalan geniva, French gencive, Italian gengiva and Romanian gingie;^[6][1] the Galician form is enxiva.^[6][1] Spanish kept the -v- in dialects and in the old form Old Spanish enziva.^[7]

De Vaan considers the origin of the Latin word unknown and finds the comparison with words for “round” and “winding” unconvincing.^[8] Wiktionary mentions a possible link with Proto-Indo-European *ǵyewh₁- (“to chew”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the first record to the 15th century, spelt gingiua, with the anatomical sense it still has.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) describes it as the firm red flesh that holds the teeth set in the jaws, and quotes Juvenal's gingiva inermis, a toothless gum.^[4] Caldas Aulete's original dictionary notes that it is used mostly in the plural.^[9] For the idea of “gum” in compounds, Portuguese uses the learned element gingiv(o)-.^[2]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, spelt gingiua.^[2][3]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro lists Gengiva.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word gengiva, ou gingiva.^[4]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as the flesh covering the sockets of the teeth.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The gum, gingiva: the tissue of the mouth's mucosa that covers the jaws and surrounds the necks of the teeth.^[2][12][1]

Related words

• gengivite
• Latin gingīva
• Spanish encía
• Galician enxiva

Usage notes

The Algarve has the dialect form engiva, recorded by the REW and García de Diego.^[6][13][1]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. gengiva
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. gengiva
4. ^ 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. gengiva
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. gengiva
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3765
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 597
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. gengiva
10. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. gengiva
11. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 84
12. ^ 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. gengiva
13. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. gingiva