gris

Forms

gris (invariable)^[1] Aurélio allows the plural gris or grises.^[2] Priberam gives grises.^[3] The medieval feminine grisa is recorded in the 14th century.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French gris (“grey”), written Old Galician-Portuguese gris in the oldest texts, according to Houaiss, Wiktionary and the DLP.^[4][1][6] Cunha and Aurélio derive it instead from Old Occitan gris (feminine grisa), Nascentes from French through Occitan, and his fuller dictionary through Catalan gris.^[5][2][7][8] Houaiss dates the French word to about 1150, of a grey beard.^[4]

The French and Occitan adjective comes from Frankish *grīs (“grey”), a form restored from Old Saxon grīs and Dutch grijs.^[9][1] It goes back to Proto-Germanic *grīsaz (“grey”), also the source of Old English grīs, Old High German grīs and German greis (“aged”).^[10] Kroonen finds a link with *grēwaz (“grey”) formally difficult, and Wiktionary calls the further origin unknown.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use gris as a noun for a squirrel fur: a man who has given up luxury will no longer wear pano de seda nen pena de gris “silk cloth nor grey fur”.^[11] The Crónica Geral has penas ueyras et grisas “vair and grey furs”, and the Crónica Troiana the adjective in hũa pel de veyros grises “a pelt of grey vair”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word named the grey fur of the squirrel and its colour; an old sense recorded by Houaiss is a greyish woollen cloth, also called grise or griso.^[11][4] In French too gris was first the fur of the squirrel, and only then the colour of a beard or a garment.^[9]

Bluteau (1712–1728) calls gris a word taken from French, for a colour between white and black, and quotes pena Gris from a life of the Constable Nuno Pereira.^[12] Vieira defines it as grey tending to blue, the sense the modern dictionaries give first.^[13][3] The printers' trade gave it senses for faded prints, weak negatives and hatched letters.^[4][14] In Rio Grande do Sul the noun for the colour is also the usage of the River Plate.^[15]

Timeline

• 13th century – pena de gris “grey fur” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[11][4][5]
• 14th century – the feminine grisa.^[4][5]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau marks the word as taken from French.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira defines gris as grey tending to blue.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo enters gris “grey” and a second gris equal to griso.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. grey, often bluish grey: Ela escolheu umas cortinas gris.^[4][3][2]
2. (printing) Of a print: showing faded, greyish tones from poor inking.^[4][2]
3. (printing, photography) Of a negative: with too little contrast for a good reproduction.^[4][2]
4. (printing) Of a letter: with its strokes filled by fine parallel lines.^[4][14]

Noun

1. The colour grey: O gris dominava a sala.^[4][2]
2. (archaic, textiles) A greyish woollen cloth; grise, griso.^[4][14]
3. The grey fur of a northern European squirrel, used for warm clothing and trimmings.^[6][3][17]

Word family

• grisado

Related words

• grise
• griso
• French gris

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. gris
3. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. gris
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. gris
5. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. gris
6. ^ a b 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. gris
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. gris
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 250
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gris
10. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 191
11. ^ a b c d 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. gris
12. ^ 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. gris
13. ^ 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, 923
14. ^ 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. gris
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. gris
16. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. gris
17. ^ 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. gris