leituga

Forms

leituga f (plural leitugas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lactūca (“lettuce”), written Old Galician-Portuguese leituga in the old language.^[2][3][1] The Latin word is formed from lac (“milk”) with a suffix found in other plant names, after the milky juice of the cut stems.^[4][1][5]

The same Latin word is Galician leituga, Spanish lechuga, Catalan lletuga, French laitue, Italian lattuga and Romanian lăptucă.^[6][7][1] The Spanish word is recorded from about 1400.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word meant the garden lettuce, and so does Galician leituga.^[4][9] Portuguese uses alface for the lettuce and keeps leituga for wild plants of the daisy family with a milky sap, above all Tolpis barbata.^[10][2][1] Michaelis still gives “lettuce” as a second sense.^[11]

Timeline

• 1912 – Silva Bastos's dictionary lists the word for Tolpis barbata.^[12]
• 1955 – Nascentes notes that the Portuguese word names a composite plant, not the lettuce.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of several wild herbs of the daisy family with a milky sap, growing wild in Portugal and used as animal fodder.^[3][13]
2. The yellow hawkweed Tolpis barbata, also called olho-de-mocho.^[2][12][1]
3. cat's-ear (Hypochaeris radicata and H. glabra); hare lettuce (Sonchus); prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola).^[1]
4. (rare) lettuce.^[11]

Related words

• leite
• alface
• Latin lac
• Spanish lechuga

Usage notes

The word is recorded in the dialect surveys of Portugal, for example at Carviçais in Moncorvo for the plant also called olho-de-mocho.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. leituga
3. ^ 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. leituga
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lactūca
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. laitue
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4833
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. lactuca
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lechuga
9. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. leituga
10. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 294
11. ^ 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. leituga
12. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. leituga
13. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5631
14. ^ 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. leituga