graxo

Forms

graxo (feminine graxa, masculine plural graxos, feminine plural graxas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin grassus (“fat”), a later form of Latin crassus (“thick, fat”).^[2][1][3][4] Cunha starts from a form *grassius, which would explain the ⟨x⟩.^[2] Wiktionary also sees the influence of graxa “grease”, and Aurélio derives the adjective from that noun.^[1][5] The change of the first consonant is put down to grossus (“thick”) by Nascentes and the DLE;^[6][7][8] García de Diego takes the reduction of cr- to gr- as regular.^[6][7][8] The learned crasso is its doublet.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician graxo, Spanish graso, Catalan greix, French gras and Italian grasso.^[8][9][1]

De Vaan rejects the derivation of the Latin adjective from a root meaning “to wind”, and Wiktionary finds the origin uncertain.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is in 1615, in Nunes's book on painting, which Bluteau quotes: óleo graxo is an oil that thickens in the sun and runs in a thread like honey, used by painters for polish and as a mordant.^[4][11] The Post Scriptum corpus lemmatises the forms graxo and graxos in private letters of 1542.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The painters' term was the only sense in Bluteau and Morais (1789).^[11][13] Caldas Aulete's original dictionary and Figueiredo give the general sense “oily, greasy”, which Figueiredo marks as little used.^[3][14] In chemistry the adjective names the fatty acids (ácido graxo), the usual term in Brazil.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1542 – graxo and graxos in two private letters of the Post Scriptum corpus.^[12]
• 1615 – Nunes's Arte da pintura writes of óleo graxo.^[4][11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau enters it as a painters' term.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from Latin crassus.^[15]
• 1899 – Figueiredo gives “oily” and marks it little used.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing fat; oily (oleoso), greasy.^[4][16][1]
2. (chemistry) Of certain organic acids found in fats, waxes and oils: ácido graxo “fatty acid”.^[4][3]
3. (painting, historical) Of oil: thickened by exposure to the sun, used for polish and as a mordant.^[11][15]

Related words

• graxa
• crasso
• engraxar
• Latin crassus
• Spanish graso

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. graxo
3. ^ a b c 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. graxo
4. ^ 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. graxo
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. graxo
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. graxo
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. graso
8. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. crassus
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. graxo
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. graxo
12. ^ a b 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. graxo
13. ^ 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, 69
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. graxo
15. ^ 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, 920
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. graxo