gralha

Forms

gralha f (plural gralhas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin grācula, the feminine of Latin grāculus (“jackdaw”), through a syncopated Vulgar Latin *gracla.^[2][3][1] Aurélio describes it as the Latin masculine with a change of gender in Late Latin.^[4] The Life of Saint Fructuosus of Braga already speaks of small black birds which the common people called by this name.^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician gralla, Spanish graja, Catalan gralla, Occitan gralha, French graille and Italian gracchia.^[6][7][1] The Spanish feminine is recorded from 1335, the masculine from 1495.^[8]

The Latin name imitates the bird's call: Quintilian and Isidore already derived it from the bird's cry.^[9][10] De Vaan compares Proto-Slavic *grakati (“to caw”) and Old Norse kráka (“crow”), but holds that such words may have arisen separately by onomatopoeia.^[11] Wiktionary sets up Proto-Indo-European *greh₂-k- (“to croak”).^[11][1]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century and Cunha to the 16th.^[2][3] Cardoso (1569) translates it by Latin graculus and monedula “jackdaw”, and Barbosa (1611) gives gralha or gralho, the proverb quando pegas, gralhas, quando gralhas, pegas and the verb gralhear “to chatter”.^[12][13] Bluteau (1712–1728) calls the gralha smaller than the gralho.^[14]

Figueiredo (1899) records two transferred senses: a letter or sign set upside down or in the wrong place by the compositor, and a talkative woman, together with a popular game in the plural.^[15] The typographical sense has widened to any slip in a written text.^[16] In Brazil the name passed to the blue jays of the genus Cyanocorax, in Rio Grande do Sul to the guira cuckoo, and in Portugal it is also a name of the bee-eater.^[2][4][17]

Timeline

• 15th century – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 16th century – Cunha's first date.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates gralha by Latin graculus and monedula.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa records gralho beside gralha and the verb gralhear.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a common bird.^[18]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the printer's error and the talkative woman.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Brazil) Any of several jays of the genus Cyanocorax, with violet-blue plumage and a white belly; acaé.^[2][4]
2. The Alpine chough, Pyrrhocorax graculus; also other birds of the crow family, such as rooks and jackdaws.^[2][16][1]
3. (figurative) A person who talks too much; a tagarela.^[2][16][1]
4. (printing) A typo: a type set upside down, out of place or swapped for another; any slip in a written text.^[2][16][1]
5. (Rio Grande do Sul) The guira cuckoo, anu-branco.^[2]
6. (Portugal) The European bee-eater, abelheiro.^[2][17]
7. (in the plural) A popular game.^[2][15]

Word family

• gralhada
• gralha-azul
• gralha-preta
• gralha-cinzenta
• gralha-alpina

Related words

• gralho
• Galician gralla
• Spanish grajo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. gralha
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. gralha
4. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. gralha
5. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. gracula
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3830
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 247
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. grāculus
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. grāculus
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. gralha
13. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. gralha
14. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. gralha
15. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 675
16. ^ 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. gralha
17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4760
18. ^ 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, 66