lavadura

Forms

lavadura f (plural lavaduras)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese lavar + -dura, according to Aurélio, the DLP and Wiktionary.^[2][3][1] Houaiss analyses it as the stem of the participle lavado with the suffix -ura.^[4] Cunha dates it to the 16th century.^[5] The verb is from Latin lavō (“to wash”).^[1]

Wiktionary and the REW also allow Vulgar Latin *lavatūra, whose outcomes include Spanish lavadura, French lavure, and Italian lavatura.^[1][6] In Medieval Latin the noun meant water that had been used for washing, close to the Portuguese sense “dishwater”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1615, Cunha to the 16th century.^[4][5] Pereira's Thesouro (1697) translates it with Latin lotio and ablutio “washing”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) adds to “act of washing” the water something has been washed in, giving lavaduras da cozinha as his example.^[9] This became the usual sense: the dishwater, often mixed with flour or bran, that is fed to pigs, and hence any watery, tasteless food.^[4][3] Portuguese dialect surveys record it for a mash of water and flour given to animals.^[10] Houaiss also records an obsolete use for a watercolour (aquarela).^[4]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record.^[5]
• 1615 – Houaiss's first date.^[4]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro lists the word.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais adds the sense “water used for washing”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or result of washing; lavagem.^[4][2][1]
2. dishwater, often with flour added, given to pigs as food; swill.^[4][3][11]
3. Food that is very watery and tasteless.^[4][3]
4. (obsolete) A watercolour.^[4]

Related words

• lavar
• lavagem
• Spanish lavadura

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lavadura
3. ^ a b c d 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. lavadura
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lavadura
5. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lavar
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4953
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. lavatura
8. ^ a b 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. lavadura
9. ^ 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, 10
10. ^ 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. lavadura
11. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5607