libra

Forms

libra f (plural libras)^[1] The medieval form was livra, recorded in the 13th century.^[2][3] Viterbo enters the coin under livra and Bluteau (1712) still gives libra, ou livra.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin libra (“pound (weight); pair of scales”), written Old Galician-Portuguese livra in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][6] Nascentes explains the modern ⟨b⟩ in place of ⟨v⟩ by the usual wavering between the two sounds.^[7] The name of the coin comes from a coin worth a pound of gold or silver.^[6] For the English unit of weight, Wiktionary takes the Portuguese use as a calque of pound.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician libra, Spanish libra, Catalan lliura, French livre and Italian libbra.^[1][8][7]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[1][9] Wiktionary sets up an older form like Proto-Italic *līðrā, also seen in Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra), and the OLD compares this Sicilian Greek word.^[1][9] The DHLF considers it probably a word of the Mediterranean civilisations before the arrival of the Indo-European languages.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word, as livra, to the 13th century.^[2] Viterbo's article on livra, with documents from 1260 onward, describes it as a silver coin as old as the kingdom, worth 36 réis; later copper livras were so light that they were called livrinhas.^[4] A cantiga in praise of the Virgin speaks of a church de mil libras en valia “worth a thousand pounds”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the word was both a weight and the oldest Portuguese money of account.^[4][5] Viterbo records a livra of wax or flax of two arráteis in documents of 1547 and 1556, and the Flemish livra de grossos current in Portugal in the 16th century.^[12] Houaiss dates the sense of the coin itself to the 14th century and that of the constellation to the 15th.^[2] Pereira (1697) equates libra with the arrátel.^[13] The modern senses are the English pound of about 454 grams and the currencies called pounds, above all the British libra esterlina.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, as livra.^[2][3]
• 1260 – the earliest document that Viterbo cites for the coin livra.^[4]
• 14th century – Houaiss's first date for the sense “coin”.^[2]
• 15th century – the sense “constellation of the Scales”.^[2]
• 1547 – a livra of wax or flax of two arráteis in the leases of Grijó.^[12]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses libra as arrátel.^[13]
• 1712 – Bluteau calls the libra or livra the oldest Portuguese coin on record.^[5]
• 1734 – Feijó records the sense “a sign of the heavens” in astronomy.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. pound, a unit of mass of the English system, about 0.4536 kilograms (symbol lb).^[2][14][1]
2. (historical) The old Portuguese pound, the arrátel, of about 459 grams.^[14][16][1]
3. (historical) The apothecaries' pound of twelve ounces, used in pharmacies.^[17][16]
4. The currency of the United Kingdom and of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Sudan; a note or coin of it: Paguei dez libras pelo bilhete.^[2][18][19]
5. (historical) An old Portuguese coin, whose value varied with the period and the place.^[14][16][20]
6. An English gold coin, the sovereign, once also current in Portugal.^[2][20]
7. (astronomy, with a capital) Libra, the seventh constellation of the zodiac, between Leo and Scorpio; also called Balança.^[2][18]
8. (astrology, with a capital) The seventh sign of the zodiac, for those born between 23 September and 22 or 23 October.^[2][1]

Word family

• libriano

Related words

• librar
• libração
• equilíbrio
• Latin libra

Usage notes

The British currency is in full libra esterlina; until 1971 it was divided into 20 xelins.^[2][14] The constellation and the sign are written with a capital, Libra, and are also called Balança “scales”.^[2][16]

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 n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. libra
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. libra
4. ^ a b c d Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 91
5. ^ 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. libra
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. libra
7. ^ 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. 298
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5015
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lībra
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. livre
11. ^ 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. libra
12. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 95
13. ^ 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. libra
14. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. libra
15. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. libra
16. ^ 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. libra
17. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. libra
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. libra
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5673
20. ^ 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. libra