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goteira

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word goteira

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1209 a legal text quoted by Lorenzo, spelt goteyras More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin gutta
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gutta
French goutte
Romanian gută
Italian gotta
Portuguese gota
Portuguese goteira
Spanish gota
From the same root
French gouttière ← gutta
Spanish gotera ← gota

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ɡoˈte(j).ɾɐ/, [ɡoˈte(ɪ̯).ɾɐ][1]
  • Portugal: /ɡuˈtɐj.ɾɐ/[1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /ɡuˈtej.ɾɐ/[1]
  • Central, Portugal: /ɡuˈtej.ɾɐ/[1]

Forms

goteira f (plural goteiras)[1] The oldest texts write goteyra.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese gota + -eira.[3][1][4][5] The base word, meaning “drop”, is from Latin gutta.[6] The same formation is Spanish gotera, and French gouttière is formed alike from goutte.[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

R. Lorenzo found the word in a legal text of 1209, which rules on “the water of the eaves” (de las aguas das goteyras, todas las aguas das goteyras e dos curraes), that is, the rainwater dripping from the roof.[2] Houaiss also dates it to the 13th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) and Pereira (1697) translate it with Latin words for a drop and for dripping water.[8][9] Bluteau (1712) defines it as the tile at the edge of the roof from which the rain runs off.[10] Morais adds the hole in the roof through which rain comes into the house, and the cut valances round the top of a canopy or bed.[11] Later the word was applied to the gutter itself, to grooves in a bone, the fuller of a blade, a channel in books and type, and a wire splint for broken limbs.[3][12][13] In Brazilian informal speech goteira is a slight mental disturbance, and among Freemasons an outsider who enters the lodge.[3]

Timeline

  • 1209 – goteyras in a legal text (Machado had dated the word to 1320).[2]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary has goteira.[8]
  • 1712 – Bluteau: the tile at the edge of the roof.[10]
  • 1813 – Morais: a hole in the roof that lets the rain in.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Each of the spouts or tiles at the eaves (beiral) from which rainwater drips off a roof.[3][13]
  2. A pipe or channel that takes rainwater from the roof; calha, gutter.[3][4][1]
  3. A hole or crack in a roof through which rain drips into the house, a leak; also the water that drips through it: A sala tinha duas goteiras depois da tempestade.[3][12][1]
  4. (anatomy) A groove in a bone through which vessels, nerves or tendons pass.[3][13]
  5. (medicine) A wire splint for keeping a broken limb still; in dentistry, a night guard.[13][14][1]
  6. (bookbinding, typography) The concave fore-edge of a book, or a groove in a piece of type.[3][14]
  7. (Brazil, informal) A slight mental disturbance; maluquice.[3][15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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. goteyra
  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. goteira
  4. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. goteira
  5. ^ 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, 885
  6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. gota
  7. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. goteira
  8. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. goteira
  9. ^ 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. goteira
  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. goteira
  11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 93
  12. ^ a b 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. goteira
  13. ^ a b c d 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. goteira
  14. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4746
  15. ^ 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. goteira

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Goteira.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/goteira. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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