lagosta

Forms

lagosta f (plural lagostas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lacusta, the form that the Romance languages presuppose for Latin locusta (“locust; lobster”).^[2][3][1][4] The Latin word named both the insect and a marine crustacean.^[5][6] Williams explains the ⟨a⟩ of the first syllable as a dissimilation of vowels.^[7] Other explanations see the influence of other words: Wiktionary names lacertus (“lizard”) and lacus (“lake”), and Corominas thinks that variants with -a- and with -n- already existed in late Latin.^[1][8]

The same Latin word is Galician lagosta, Spanish langosta, Catalan llagosta, Occitan langosta, Italian aragosta and Romanian lăcustă (“locust”).^[4][1] Spanish had Old Spanish lagosta about 1280, and the modern word is formed from it.^[9][10] The Occitan form is the source of French langouste.^[9]

The Latin word has no clear etymology, and even the length of its first vowel is uncertain.^[6] De Vaan notes that the only similar word is lacerta (“lizard; mackerel”), with no common preform, and that both could be cognate words in a language from which Latin borrowed them.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha's first record, from the 15th century, has the old meaning “locust”, and he notes that the medieval language also wrote the Latin form locusta in that century.^[11] The crustacean is recorded from the 16th century;^[12][13][14] Houaiss dates it to 1552, from a text he cites as FCastH.^[11][2]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) and Barbosa (1611) render the word with Latin locusta marina “sea locust”, and Pereira (1697) gives lagostim beside it.^[12][13][14] Bluteau explains the name: like the insect, the lobster has small horns in front of its eyes, tipped with round black beads.^[15] Morais (1789) describes it as a jointed shellfish that turns red when cooked, like the shrimp.^[16]

From the colour of the cooked animal comes the figurative sense “a person with a very red face”.^[2][17][18] The word also names the dish, and in Brazil a large freshwater prawn, the pitu.^[2] In the Minho it is a popular word for a slap in the face.^[17]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, in the sense “locust”, beside the Latin spelling locusta.^[11]
• 1552 – Houaiss's first date for the crustacean.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders lagosta as Latin locusta marina.^[12]
• 1697 – Pereira lists lagosta, ou lagostim.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives the name from Latin locusta “locust”.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais notes that the animal turns red when cooked.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spiny lobster or lobster: any of several large marine decapod crustaceans of the families Palinuridae and Nephropidae, with a long body and long antennae.^[2][17][1]
2. (Brazil) The pitu, a large freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium carcinus).^[2]
3. (cooking) A dish made with lobster meat, as lagosta ao termidor “lobster thermidor”.^[2][18]
4. (figurative) A person with a very red face or skin.^[2][17]
5. (Minho, popular) A slap in the face.^[17]

Word family

• lagostim

Related words

• locusta
• Spanish langosta
• French langouste

Usage notes

Houaiss treats the word as the popular doublet of the learned locusta.^[2] The vowel of the stressed syllable is closed, /o/.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lagosta
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lagosta
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5098
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. locusta
6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Williams, Edwin B. (1938), From Latin to Portuguese: Historical Phonology and Morphology of the Portuguese Language, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. § 110.1
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 575
9. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. langosta
10. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. langosta
11. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lagosta
12. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lagosta
13. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lagosta
14. ^ a b c Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lagosta
15. ^ 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. lagosta
16. ^ 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. 2, 4
17. ^ a b c d e 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. lagosta
18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lagosta