lenho

Forms

lenho m (plural lenhos)^[1] Cunha records lenno in the 13th century and lenho from the 14th.^[2] Houaiss has lenhon and llenho in the 15th.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lignum (“wood, firewood”), written Old Galician-Portuguese lenno and Old Galician-Portuguese lenho in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Its doublet lenha “firewood” comes from the Latin plural of the same noun.^[1][5]

The same Latin word is Spanish leño, Italian legno and Romanian lemn.^[5][6][1] The Spanish word is recorded from 1430, later than leña from the plural.^[7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *legnom, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-no-.^[8][1] If it is derived from the root *leǵ- (“to collect”), it first meant wood gathered for the fire, which fits the Latin use of the word for firewood as opposed to materia (“timber”).^[8][9] Wiktionary considers a derivation from *legʰ- (“to lie”) equally possible.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha records the word in the 13th century as lenno.^[2] In a cantiga the speakers cry to Iesu Nazareno that they are in great distress polo len[h]o, the wood of the Cross.^[10] The sense “thick piece of wood, trunk” is dated by Houaiss to the 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval Latin already used lignum for a ship and for the Cross, the two transferred senses of the Portuguese word.^[11] Bluteau in 1712 defines it as a piece of a tree cut and stripped of its branches, and lists the Santo Lenho, the relic of the Cross, and the alchemists' lenho da vida.^[12] Morais in 1813 marks the sense “ship” as poetic.^[13] Vieira quotes the Décadas of Barros on an envoy received in Goa with a procession out of reverence for the lenho da Cruz he brought to King Manuel.^[14] Botany later took the word for the xylem (xilema).^[3][15] In Portugal it also names the great bonfire lit in village squares and churchyards on Christmas Eve.^[16]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, spelt lenno.^[2]
• 14th century – lenho “trunk, thick piece of wood”.^[3][2]
• c. 1400 – the Santiago fragment of the Flos Sanctorum (witness 1380–1425).^[17]
• 15th century – the spellings lenhon and llenho.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses the word with Latin lignum.^[18]
• 1712 – Bluteau records Santo Lenho and lenho da vida.^[12]
• 1813 – Morais marks the sense “ship” as poetic.^[13]
• 1975 – the first Aurélio gives the botanical sense “xylem” first.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The xylem (xilema), the tissue that supports the plant and carries water and salts from the roots.^[3][19][1]
2. A thick, heavy piece of wood; a log or trunk.^[3][20][1]
3. A tree trunk cut and stripped of its branches.^[3][12]
4. A rough piece of wood; a cut branch.^[3][16]
5. (poetic) A ship or boat.^[3][20]
6. Santo Lenho, Sagrado Lenho: the cross on which Christ was crucified.^[3][19]
7. (Portugal) A large bonfire lit in a village square or churchyard on Christmas Eve.^[16]

Related words

• lenha
• lenhoso
• Latin lignum
• Spanish leño

Usage notes

In Santo Lenho and Sagrado Lenho the word is often capitalised, though lowercase is also correct.^[3][19] In Portugal the stressed vowel is generally /ɐ/ or /ɐj/, but /e/ in the north and centre; the Priberam gives both.^[1][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lenho
3. ^ 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. lenho
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lenho
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. lignum
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. leña
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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lignum
10. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. lenho
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. lignum
12. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lenho
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 214
14. ^ 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, 1287
15. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 853
16. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5637
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. lenho
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lenho
19. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lenho
20. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. lenho