lã

Forms

lã f (plural lãs)^[1] Houaiss records lãa (13th century), llãas and laa (14th), lam (15th), and lã from the 16th century, with the plural lans in 1599.^[2] Cunha dates lãa to the 13th century and lã to the 16th.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lāna (“wool”), written Old Galician-Portuguese lãa in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The /n/ between vowels fell and left the first vowel nasal; the two vowels of the old form then merged into one, as the dated forms show.^[2][3] The same Latin word is Galician laa, Spanish lana, Catalan llana, French laine, Italian lana and Romanian lână.^[2][1][4]

The Latin word goes back through *wlānā to Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂ (“wool”), the source also of English wool, Ancient Greek λῆνος (lênos), Sanskrit ऊर्णा (ūrṇā) and Lithuanian vìlna.^[1][5] De Vaan explains it as “plucked material”, since wool was once plucked rather than shorn; he notes that some scholars reject and others keep the link with vellō (“to pluck”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A charter of 1262 from Portel taxes panos de lãa ou de lino “cloths of wool or linen”.^[6] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a woman vows nunca vestirei ja mais lãa nen lỹo “I will never again wear wool or linen”, and another poor woman's mother earned her living spinning wool.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Wool and woollen cloth have been the main senses from the first records.^[6][2] The Crónica Geral already has the saying of the ram que uay buscar lãa allea et uem dala trosquiado da sua “that goes to fetch another's wool and comes back shorn of its own”.^[6] The word was extended to the down of plants and to frizzy hair, and in the backlands of north-eastern Brazil it means raw cotton.^[2][8][9] Informal speech in Portugal uses it for money and wealth, and ter lã for being shy.^[2][10] Modern technology added lã de vidro “glass wool” and lã de aço “steel wool”.^[2][8]

The learned family of the Latin word came in separately: lanugem in the 14th century, lanígero in the 16th, lanoso and lanudo in the 17th.^[3]

Timeline

• 1262 – panos de lãa in a charter from Portel.^[6]
• 13th century – lãa in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[7]
• 14th century – the spellings laa and llãas; the Crónica Geral has the saying of the shorn ram.^[2][6]
• c. 1430 – lãã in the Horto do Esposo (manuscript of 1390–1437).^[11]
• 1542 – the plural las in a private letter.^[12]
• 16th century – the modern spelling lã.^[2][3]
• 1599 – the plural spelt lans.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. wool: the soft, curly hair covering sheep and some other animals.^[2][8][1]
2. Woollen cloth or yarn;^[2][8][13] (in the plural) woollen goods: uma camisola de lã.^[2][8][13]
3. The down on certain plants.^[2][8]
4. (informal) Frizzy hair, carapinha.^[2][8]
5. (north-eastern Brazil) Raw cotton.^[2][8][9]
6. (Portugal, informal) money, wealth.^[2][10]
7. (figurative) shyness, timidity.^[10][14][1]

Related words

• lanar
• lanífero
• lanígero
• lanoso
• lanzudo
• lanifício
• lanolina
• lanugem
• lanudo
• Latin lana
• Galician laa

Usage notes

Ir buscar lã e vir tosquiado “to go for wool and come back shorn” is said of someone who meant to trick others and was tricked; the saying is already in the Crónica Geral.^[8][15][6] Com pés de lã “with woollen feet” means stealthily.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lã
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. lã
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 571
5. ^ a b 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. lāna
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. laa
7. ^ a b 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. lãa
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lã
9. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. lã
10. ^ 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. lã
11. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. lãã
12. ^ 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. lã
13. ^ 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. lã
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. lã
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5525