genro

Forms

genro m (plural genros, feminine nora or genra, feminine plural noras or genras)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote genrro, genro, gẽrro, gẽro and jenrro.^[2][3] Feijó (1734) still notes the spelling genrro beside genro.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gener (“son-in-law”), written Old Galician-Portuguese genrro in the oldest texts.^[3][5][1] The same Latin word is Galician xenro, Spanish yerno, Catalan gendre, French gendre, Italian genero and Romanian ginere.^[6][1] Wiktionary notes that it is not related to gênero.^[1]

Wiktionary traces the Latin noun to *ǵm̥ros, from *ǵem-; de Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Indo-European word for “son-in-law” of the same shape and compares the Indo-Iranian words for it.^[1][7] The OLD compares γαμβρός (gambrós).^[8] Older works joined the word to the family of gignō (“to beget”), as the DHLF still does.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 973 already has suo genro.^[2] In Galician-Portuguese a document of 1265 has seu genrro “his son-in-law”, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a woman who had her genrro killed.^[2] Houaiss dates the form genrro to the 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its one sense, “a daughter's husband in relation to her parents”, from the first texts to today.^[2][3] Bluteau collects proverbs about sons-in-law, such as amizade de genro, sol de inverno “a son-in-law's friendship is winter sun”.^[11]

Its feminine partner is nora “daughter-in-law”, a word of another origin;^[1] Wiktionary also records a feminine genra.^[12][1] In Alentejo the dialect surveys record genlro (Juromenha, Elvas, Olivença) and a popular masculine noro in Elvas.^[13]

Timeline

• 973 – a Latin charter has suo genro.^[2]
• 1265 – seu genrro in a Galician-Portuguese document.^[2]
• 13th century – genrro in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2]
• 1344 – jenrro del rey in the Crónica Geral.^[2]
• 1544 – gemRo in a private letter.^[14]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders genro by Latin gener.^[15]
• 1734 – Feijó gives genro as the spelling, against genrro.^[4]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from Latin.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. son-in-law: a daughter's husband, in relation to her father and mother.^[3][12][1]

Related words

• nora
• sogro
• Latin gener
• Galician xenro
• Spanish yerno

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. genrro
3. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. genro
4. ^ a b 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. genro
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. genro
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gendre
10. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 662
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. genro
12. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. genro
13. ^ 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. genro
14. ^ 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. genro
15. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. genro
16. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 853