gravata

Forms

gravata f (plural gravatas)^[1] The early spellings vary: gorovata (1707), gravata (1725), garavata (1727), garovata (1731).^[2] Bluteau headed the word carvata or cravata, and Feijó (1734) held craváta to be the proper form against graváta and gorbáta.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French cravate (“necktie”).^[2][5][1] The French word was at first a military term, a soldier of the light cavalry, originally a Croat, since Croatian horsemen formed a mercenary regiment from the reign of Louis XIII; the sense “strip of cloth worn round the neck”, as the Croats wore it, follows in 1649–1652.^[2][6] Bluteau already gave this story in the 18th century.^[3]

The French noun comes from the French ethnic name for a Croat, written with a capital and recorded from 1573, an adaptation either of Serbo-Croatian Hrvat (“Croat”) or of dialectal German Krawat.^[2][6] The parallel French croate was taken from German Kroate.^[2][6] Portuguese croata is thus a doublet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is of 1707, in the spelling gorovata, with the sense of a strip of cloth worn round the neck.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1813) describes the gravata as a strip of linen folded and wound round the neck over the shirt collar, and Vieira (1871) as a neck ornament whose shape and cloth follow fashion.^[7][8] Later dictionaries add the leather collar that soldiers once wore, and the ring of feathers round the neck of some birds.^[9][2] Brazil gave it the senses of a stranglehold from behind, in Rio Grande do Sul the cutting of a throat, and, as a masculine noun, a person who wears a tie, a bigwig; the north-east uses gravata for a man of good family and wealth.^[2][10] In Portugal a gravata is popularly the unfilled top part of a glass.^[11]

Timeline

• 1707 – first record, spelt gorovata.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists carvata or cravata and explains it from the Croatian cavalry.^[3]
• 1725 – the spelling gravata.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó argues for craváta against graváta.^[4]
• 1813 – Morais heads the word gravata.^[7]
• 1871 – Vieira derives it from French cravate.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A necktie: a strip of cloth worn round the neck under the shirt collar and knotted or tied in a bow at the front.^[2][12][1]
2. (historical) A leather strip or collar formerly worn round the neck by soldiers.^[2][12]
3. (ornithology) A ring of feathers round the neck of some birds, differing in colour from the rest.^[2][13]
4. (Brazil) A chokehold applied from behind with the arm round the neck.^[2][1]
5. (Rio Grande do Sul) The cutting of a person's throat; degola.^[2][14]
6. (typography) The rule that separates the heading of a table from its body.^[2]
7. (Portugal, popular) The empty top part of a glass that was not filled.^[11]
8. (masculine, informal) A person who wears a tie; an influential or wealthy person.^[2][15]

Word family

• engravatar
• gravatão
• gravataria
• gravatear
• gravateiro
• gravatinha

Related words

• croata
• French cravate

Usage notes

In Rio Grande do Sul passar a gravata colorada “to put on the red tie” means to kill someone by cutting the throat.^[2]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. gravata
3. ^ 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. carvata
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. cravata
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. gravata
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. cravate
7. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 99
8. ^ a b 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, 916
9. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. gravata
10. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. gravata
11. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4778
12. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. gravata
13. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. gravata
14. ^ 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. gravata
15. ^ 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. gravata