lenha

Forms

lenha f (countable and uncountable, plural lenhas)^[1] Houaiss records the medieval spellings lenna (13th century), lenha and leña (14th century) and llenha (15th century).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ligna (“firewood, logs”), the neuter plural of lignum (“wood”), taken as a feminine singular, and was written Old Galician-Portuguese lenna in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The singular lives on in the doublet lenho.^[1][4]

The same Latin plural gave Galician leña, Spanish leña, Catalan llenya, Occitan lenha and Italian legna.^[1][5] Corominas notes that the word is common to all the Romance languages, though some have kept only the plural and others only the singular.^[5]

In Latin the word meant above all wood for burning, as opposed to timber for building.^[6][7] De Vaan derives it from *legno- and Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect”), so that it first meant “wood gathered for the fire”;^[8][1] Wiktionary gives a derivation from *legʰ- (“to lie”) as equally possible.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria already use lenna for firewood: one miracle tells of a great oven lit de lenna mui grossa “with very thick wood”, another compares a blow to someone como quen lenna fende “like one who splits wood”.^[9] Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “wood for the fire” has stayed the main one: Cardoso glosses it with the Latin plural ligna in 1569, and Barbosa in 1611 lists lenha seca, monte de lenha and lenheyro “one who goes for firewood”.^[10][11] Morais defines it in 1813 as the sticks that feed the fire.^[12]

Figurative senses grew from wood used as a stick: “a beating”, then harsh criticism, and in Brazil anything difficult or risky, as well as a car race (fazer lenha).^[2][13] Michaelis also records it in slang for a walking stick.^[14] In Rio Grande do Sul lenha de vaca and lenha de ovelha name the dried dung burnt as fuel on the open plain.^[15]

The word passed into the creoles as Guinea-Bissau Creole lenha and Kristang lenya.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – lenna in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[9][2]
• 14th century – the spellings lenha and leña.^[2]
• c. 1430 – lenha in the Horto do Esposo (manuscript of 1390–1437).^[16]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses lenha with Latin ligna.^[10]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists lenha seca and lenheyro.^[11]
• before 1632 – first record of lenhador “woodcutter”.^[17]
• 1858 – the verb lenhar “to chop firewood” enters Morais's dictionary.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. firewood: branches, logs and chips of wood kept for burning: Traz mais lenha para a lareira.^[2][19][1]
2. (figurative, informal) A beating, a thrashing; a brawl.^[2][13][19]
3. (figurative, informal) Harsh, mocking criticism.^[2]
4. (Brazil, informal) Something hard, laborious or risky to do: Foi uma lenha montar aquela estante.^[2][13]
5. (Brazil, informal) A motor race between cars.^[2][13]

Word family

• lenhador
• lenheiro
• lenheira
• lenhar

Related words

• lenho
• Latin lignum
• Galician leña

Usage notes

Deitar lenha na fogueira “to put wood on the fire” means to stir up a quarrel or keep a resentment alive.^[2][13][14] In Brazil entrar na lenha means to get a beating.^[2][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lenha
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lenha
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. lignum
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 631
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lignum
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. lignum
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. lignum
9. ^ 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. lenna
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lenha
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lenha
12. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 214
13. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lenha
14. ^ 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. lenha
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. lenha
16. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. lenha
17. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lenhador
18. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lenhar
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. lenha