irmão

Forms

irmão m (plural irmãos, feminine irmã, feminine plural irmãs)^[1] 13th-century documents write irmaao, yrmão, hirmaa (feminine) and ermano.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin germānus (“brother”), short for frāter germānus “brother of the same parents”, in which the adjective meant “of the same stock, true”.^[4][1][5] The adjective is derived from germen (“sprout; offspring”).^[4][1] The 13th-century texts have Old Galician-Portuguese irmão and Old Galician-Portuguese ermano.^[4][3]

The loss of the initial /ʒ/ is explained by Houaiss and Nascentes as a result of phrase phonetics: the noun was almost always preceded by a possessive, as in meu germano, so its first consonant stood between vowels and fell as such consonants did, giving *ermão and then the modern form.^[4][5] Houaiss also explains why the Latin frāter was not continued for “brother”: its descendant frade specialised in the religious sense.^[4]

The same Latin word is Galician irmán, Spanish hermano, Catalan germà and Mirandese armano.^[1][6] Spanish has it from a document of 938, spelt Old Spanish iermano.^[7][8] Portuguese also has the learned doublet germano and the Spanish loan hermano.^[1]

The Latin noun goes back to *ǵénh₁mn̥ (“offspring, seed”), from *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).^[1] Houaiss derives it from an earlier *genmen by dissimilation.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Galician-Portuguese documents have Garcia Meendez clerigo sou irmaao in 1259, et meu yrmão in 1269 and eu un cũ meus yrmaos “I, one of my brothers” in 1269;^[2] sua hirmaa “his sister” appears in 1260.^[2] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria the word is also used of fellow Christians: crischão te faz e irmão nosso “makes you a Christian and our brother”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the family sense, the medieval language already used irmão for a fellow believer.^[2] Cunha's definition adds the member of a confraternity.^[3] Barbosa (1611) distinguishes the irmão inteyro de pay, e may “full brother”, and Cardoso (1569) gives Latin frater.^[9][10] Later senses are a lay brother in a religious order, a member of the Freemasons, a title used between Christian sovereigns or by the pope to bishops, and, informally, a form of address.^[4][11] As an adjective it means “similar, matching”, of people or things.^[4]

Timeline

• 1259 – irmaao in a Galician-Portuguese document.^[2]
• 1260 – the feminine hirmaa.^[2]
• 13th century – irmão in the Cantigas de Santa Maria; the derivative coirmaão.^[2][3]
• 14th century – first record of irmandade, spelt yrmandade.^[3]
• 1496 – first occurrence in the CTA corpus, in the História de mui nobre Vespasiano.^[12]
• 1611 – Barbosa defines irmão inteyro de pay, e may.^[9]
• 17th century – first records of irmanar and desirmanar.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brother: a son of the same parents, or of the same father or mother only, in relation to their other children; in the plural, siblings.^[4][11][1]
2. A person one is bound to by a common purpose or by fellow feeling; a close friend.^[4][1]
3. A fellow member of a party or doctrine, correligionário.^[4][11]
4. A member of a confraria or irmandade; a freemason.^[4][11]
5. (religion) A lay brother who has taken vows but not holy orders; a friar without higher office.^[4][11]
6. (informal) A form of address: Tudo bem, irmão?^[4][1]

Adjective

1. Similar in form, origin or nature to another person, animal or thing: kindred souls.^[4]

Word family

• coirmão
• irmanar
• desirmanar
• irmanação
• irmandade
• irmãozinho

Related words

• germano
• hermano
• frade
• fraternal
• fraterno
• Latin germānus
• Galician irmán

Usage notes

Set phrases include irmão de leite or irmão colaço, a child nursed by the same wet nurse, irmão de armas, a comrade in arms, and irmão uterino and irmão consanguíneo for half-brothers on the mother's or the father's side.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. irmão
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. irmão
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. irmão
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. irmão
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. germanus
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 347
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hermano
9. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. irmão
10. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. irmão
11. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. irmão
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. irmão