legume

Forms

legume m (plural legumes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin legūmen (“pulse, leguminous plant”), taken over early and in learned form according to Houaiss.^[2] Wiktionary treats it instead as inherited, through Old Galician-Portuguese legume.^[1] Houaiss records old forms such as Old Galician-Portuguese legumas and Old Galician-Portuguese ligumes, and suggests that the forms in -as continue the Latin neuter plural legūmina with the Portuguese plural -s added: a double plural.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician legume, Spanish legumbre, Catalan llegum, Italian legume and Romanian legumă.^[3][1] Corominas notes that the word is feminine only in Spanish and Romanian; in Portuguese, Galician and Catalan it is masculine.^[3]

The Latin word was analysed by the Romans themselves as coming from legō (“to gather”), because the plants are pulled up rather than cut; the OLD follows this, with the suffix -men.^[4] Wiktionary finds the connection possible but notes that the -ū- is unexplained and that the word may be a loan from another language.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of someone who pescado / non comiu nen legume “ate neither fish nor pulse”, where the glossary takes the word as feminine.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

In the old language and in the dictionaries up to the 19th century the word meant pulse, the seeds in pods: Morais defines it in 1789 as the general name for grains in pods such as broad beans, beans and peas.^[7] Vieira adds that it is what is harvested from a kitchen garden for food, and distinguishes legumes verdes such as green beans and asparagus from legumes secos such as dried beans and lentils.^[8]

Botany narrowed it to the pod of the leguminous plants, while everyday Portuguese widened it to vegetables in general.^[2][9][1] Brazil gave it regional senses: in the north-eastern backlands it is any cereal, in Paraíba sugar-cane spirit, and in Rio Grande do Sul money.^[2][10][11]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][6][5]
• 1302 – an old plural in -as, which Houaiss explains as a double plural.^[2]
• 15th century – the spellings legumes, legumees and ligumes.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin legumen.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as grain in pods.^[7]
• 1813 – first record of the adjective leguminoso.^[6]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira distinguishes legumes verdes and legumes secos.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A legume, the dry fruit of the leguminous plants, formed of one carpel and opening along two seams; a pod.^[2][10][1]
2. The fruit or seed of beans and similar plants.^[2][13]
3. A vegetable: any garden plant or part of a plant used as food.^{[2][9][10][1]}
4. (north-eastern Brazil) Any cereal.^[2][10][11]
5. (Paraíba, informal) Sugar-cane spirit, cachaça.^[2][11]
6. (Rio Grande do Sul, informal) money.^[2][10]

Word family

• leguminosa

Related words

• Latin legūmen
• Galician legume
• Spanish legumbre

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 l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. legume
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 626
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. legūmen
5. ^ 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. legume
6. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. legume
7. ^ 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, 13
8. ^ a b 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, 1279
9. ^ a b 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. legume
10. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. legume
11. ^ a b c Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. legume
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. legume
13. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5625