greda

Forms

greda f (plural gredas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crēta (“fine clay, chalk”).^[2][3][1] Nascentes and Aurélio (1975) start from Vulgar Latin *greta, a Hispanic form with the voiced initial.^[4][5] Nunes, as Nascentes reports, puts the /ɡ/ already in popular Latin because it appears in other Romance languages too.^[4][5][6]

The same Latin word is Spanish greda, Catalan greda and Occitan greda, with /ɡ/, and French craie and Italian creta, without it.^[6][1] The Spanish word is first recorded about 1400.^[7]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain: de Vaan finds the old explanation from the participle of cernō (“to sift”), “sifted earth”, semantically weak, and prefers a link with the Celtic words for mud and clay such as Old Irish cré and Welsh pridd, perhaps through a borrowing from Celtic or from a third language.^[8] Vieira derived it from the name of the island of Crete, where he said chalk abounded, and Wiktionary still lists that idea among the proposals.^[9][1]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712–1728) describes a soft clay, usually white, which leaves a mark on what it touches and which painters use to draw on prepared canvas, and notes that some call it crè.^[10] Morais (1789) also gives cré as its synonym.^[10][11] Vieira records the alchemists' greda de chumbo for white lead.^[9] Modern dictionaries stress its use for taking out grease stains and for degreasing and fulling cloth, and the DLP mentions the refining of oils.^[2][12] In Rio Grande do Sul it is a sandy, whitish grey clay used in the countryside to whiten cloth and take out stains.^[13]

Timeline

• 13th century – first date in Houaiss and Cunha.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates greda by Latin creta.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the clay used by painters.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais gives cré as a synonym.^[11]
• 1836 – first record of the derivative gredoso.^[3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records greda de chumbo “white lead”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soft, crumbly, more or less sandy clay containing silica, used to take out grease stains and to degrease and full cloth; fuller's earth.^[2][12][15]
2. chalk, giz: greda branca is another name of cré.^[16][12][17]

Word family

• gredoso

Related words

• Spanish greda

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. greda
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. greda
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. greda
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 725
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 249
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 203
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. crēta
9. ^ a b c 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, 921
10. ^ 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. greda
11. ^ a b 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
12. ^ a b c 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. greda
13. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. greda
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. greda
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4784
16. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. greda
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. greda