lata

Forms

lata f (plural latas)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2] Machado and Cunha, as Houaiss reports them, take it as borrowed from Italian latta (“tinplate”), an Italian word recorded from 1333 for a thin sheet of iron coated with tin, which comes from latta (“long pole, rod”).^[2][3] Porto Editora and Michaelis also give the word as Italian.^[4][5] Nascentes instead derives it straight from the Late Latin word, which he calls Celtic or Germanic and glosses “long rod”, a sense still alive in Portugal as “cross-bar of a vine trellis”.^[6] In his account the sense passed to “strip or plate of iron”, which he finds first in French and Italian, then to “tinned iron sheet” and finally to “tin box”.^[6] Aurélio and the DLP follow the Late Latin derivation.^[7][8] Wiktionary also names Latin lātus (“wide”) beside the Italian word.^[1]

The Portuguese sense “lath, rod” is the older one at home: Houaiss's first record is a place name of 1134, and the carpentry sense is dated 1562, while “tinplate” and “tin box” appear in the 16th century.^[2] For the cognate Spanish lata, Corominas finds “pole” from the 13th century but “tinned sheet of iron” only in the 15th, and thinks this sense was taken from Italian or French, where it is older.^[9][2]

The Late Latin word is found in glosses of the 8th century and its source is obscure.^[10] Nocentini takes it from Germanic, comparing latta (“lath”).^[11] Wiktionary gives *lattu or *slattā, and the REW leaves the choice between Germanic and Gaulish open.^[1][12] The same word is Catalan llata, Occitan lata and French latte.^[12][11] Portuguese latão “brass” is a derivative of the same base.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest trace is the place name Vale de Latas, which Houaiss dates to 1134 after Machado.^[2] As a common noun the word is first dated 1562, in carpentry, for a long thin piece of wood.^[2] Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 glosses lata as ripa “lath” and renders it with Latin asser “pole, plank”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 equates lata with latada, a vine arbour.^[15] Bluteau gives four senses: a thin, well-beaten sheet of brass that looks like gold from afar, tinplate (folha de Flandes), the cross-bar of a vine trellis, and the beams that cross a ship from side to side and carry the deck.^[16] Morais repeats them in 1789, adding Cardoso's ripa.^[17] Houaiss dates the sense “container made of tinplate” to 1858, and Vieira describes the small box or vessel of tinplate or brass used for tea, sugar, coffee and preserves.^[2][18]

Informal senses grew from the container: “face”, “something worthless” and “old, battered car” in both countries, “romantic rejection” and “dismissal from a job” in Brazil, and in Portugal “cheek, nerve”.^[2][7] In Rio Grande do Sul the word also named the small metal token handed to a shearer for each sheep shorn, as proof for his pay.^[19] Portuguese dialects keep older rural senses: a vine trained on laths, a thin lath under roof tiles, and a strip of land.^[20]

Timeline

• 1134 – the place name Vale de Latas.^[2]
• 1333 – Italian latta “tinplate” is first recorded.^[10]
• 1562 – first record of the carpentry sense “lath”.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses lata as ripa.^[14]
• 16th century – the senses “tinplate” and “tinned iron box”, and the derivatives latada and enlatado are recorded.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Barbosa equates lata with latada.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists brass sheet, tinplate, the vine cross-bar and the ship's beam.^[16]
• 1858 – first date of the sense “container”.^[2]
• 1881 – first record of enlatar.^[3]
• 20th century – first record of lataria.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. tinplate, thin sheet iron coated with tin (folha-de-flandres).^[2][21][1]
2. A can or tin; any container made of this material: Comprei duas latas de atum.^[2][7][1]
3. (textiles) The can that receives the cotton coming from the carding machine.^[2][21]
4. (nautical) A cross-beam of a ship, running from side to side and carrying the deck planking.^[2][7]
5. (carpentry) A long, thin piece of wood, a lath (ripa).^[2][5]
6. (Portugal) A cross-bar of a vine trellis; a row of tall vines along a road (latada).^[2][7][8]
7. (figurative) A financial loss; a disappointment.^[2]
8. (informal) The face: Levou um soco na lata.^[2][7]
9. (informal) Something worthless; an old, battered car, a calhambeque.^[2][8][5]
10. (Brazil, informal) A romantic rejection; dismissal from a job.^[2][7]
11. (Portugal, informal) cheek, nerve, effrontery: Que lata!^[2][4][1]
12. (Portugal, informal) A litre, especially of wine.^[2][21]

Word family

• enlatado
• enlatar
• latada
• lataria

Related words

• latão
• Spanish lata

Usage notes

Lata de lixo is a rubbish bin.^[2][5] Ter cara de lata means to be shameless, to lie without scruple.^[21] In Brazil dar a lata is to turn down a suitor or to dismiss someone from a job.^[2]

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 s t u v w x y z Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lata
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lata
4. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5594
5. ^ a b c d 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. lata
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lata
7. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lata
8. ^ 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. lata
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 597
10. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. latta
11. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. latta
13. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. latta
14. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lata
15. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lata
16. ^ 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. lata
17. ^ 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, 9
18. ^ 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, 1268
19. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. lata
20. ^ 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. lata
21. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. lata