grunhir

Forms

grunhir (first-person singular present grunho, first-person singular preterite grunhi, past participle grunhido)^[1] The 14th-century form is grunir;^[2][3] grunhir appears in the 15th century according to Houaiss and in the 16th according to Cunha.^[2][3] Feijó (1734) sets grunhir against a form gornhir.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin grunniō (“to grunt (of a pig)”), written Old Galician-Portuguese grunir in the 14th century.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary gives the old form as Old Galician-Portuguese grunnir.^[1]

The palatal ⟨nh⟩ of the modern form has been explained in two ways: Nunes first took the word from Spanish gruñir, then explained ⟨nh⟩ by the influence of the first person singular of the present, the Latin word giving ⟨grunho⟩;^[5][6] Nascentes objects that the verb is mostly defective in that person.^[5][6]

The same Latin verb is Galician gruñir, Catalan grunyir and Italian grugnire, and through Old French gronir the French grogner, reshaped after groin (“snout”).^[1][7][8] Latin also had an older grundiō, which survives only in Occitan and in gronder.^[9][7] The word is imitative: Bluteau already called it an onomatopoeia, and Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek γρῦ (grû, “grunt of swine”) and English grunt.^[10][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record that Houaiss knows, from Cunha's medieval index, is of the 14th century, spelt grunir.^[2] The Corpus de Textos Antigos has the word first in the Livro das tres vertudes a insinança das damas, in a witness from after 1450.^[11] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders it by Latin queror (“to complain”).^[12]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau and Folqman define the verb by the voice of the pig, and Bluteau quotes Rodrigues Lobo's pairing of the bleating of flocks and the grunting of pigs.^[10][13] Vieira adds a figurative sense, “to show displeasure by muttering between the teeth”.^[14] Later dictionaries extend it to other animals, such as the wild boar and dogs, and to people who make similar sounds or mumble a reply.^[2][15][16]

On Bretanha in the Azores the verb is used of children who whimper.^[17]

Timeline

• 14th century – grunir, in Cunha's medieval index.^[2][3]
• 15th century – the spelling grunhir.^[2]
• after 1450 – grunhir in the Livro das tres vertudes.^[11]
• 16th century – Cunha's date for grunhir and for the noun grunhido.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses grunhir with Latin queror.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau calls the word an onomatopoeia.^[10]
• 1734 – Feijó contrasts grunhir with gornhir.^[4]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the figurative sense “to mutter in displeasure”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To grunt, of a pig or a wild boar: Os leitões grunhiam à espera da comida.^{[2][15][16][1]}
2. (intransitive) To make a sound like a pig's, of other animals or of people.^[2][15][16]
3. (figurative) To mutter or say something unclearly and grudgingly; resmungar: grunhiu um bom-dia e saiu.^[2][18][19]
4. (Azores) Of children, to whimper; choramingar.^[17]

Word family

• grunhido

Related words

• Latin grunniō
• Spanish gruñir
• French grogner

Usage notes

Michaelis treats the verb as defective, without a first person singular of the present indicative or a present subjunctive, while Wiktionary gives grunho.^[19][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. grunhir
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. grunhir
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. grunhir
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 251
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. grunhir
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 228
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. grogner
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. grunnio
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. grunhir
11. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. grunhir
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. grunhir
13. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. grunhir
14. ^ 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, 930
15. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. grunhir
16. ^ 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. grunhir
17. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. grunhir
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. grunhir
19. ^ a b 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. grunhir