limão

Forms

limão m (plural limões)^[1] The 15th-century texts write lymon and the plural lymões; the modern plural limões is recorded in 1572.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic لَيْمُون (laymūn, “lemon”), which reached the Iberian Peninsula through Andalusian Arabic.^[1][2][3] The Arabic word comes from Persian لیمو (limu), and that from Sanskrit निम्बू (nimbū).^[1][2][4] Cunha puts Medieval Latin limon, a Medieval Latin form, between the Arabic word and the Portuguese one.^[5]

Nascentes, following Lokotsch and Dalgado, derives it from Persian through Arabic, and holds that in the Peninsula the word was influenced by the Arabic name of the lime.^[6][4] Corominas says the same of Spanish limón, recorded from the early 15th century: the reduction of the diphthong of the Arabic word to the /i/ of the Spanish and Portuguese forms would be due to the Arabic word that gave lima.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, in the spellings lymon and lymões.^[2] Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 renders it with the Latin malum citreum “citron”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The old dictionaries had no Latin word of their own for the lemon: Barbosa (1611) groups limão, lima and cidra under malum citreum, and Bluteau (1712–1728) quotes Laguna's remark that neither Greek nor Latin had a proper name for the fruit.^[10][11] Morais (1789) describes it as the fruit of a thorny tree, sweet or sour, and notes that in Brazil there are small sour lemons the size of a hen's egg.^[12]

The word came to name the lemon tree itself and the yellowish-green colour of the fruit, and is used as an invariable adjective of colour.^[2][3] In Brazil it also names the lime.^[1] In the north-east of Brazil limão or limão-canudo is a stingless bee, the iraxim, named for its lemony smell.^[2][13] Compounds name many other plants and fruits, such as limão-galego and limão-cravo.^[14]

Swahili limau was taken from the Portuguese word.^[1]

Timeline

• 15th century – lymon and the plural lymões in Portuguese texts.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists Limão.^[9]
• 1572 – the plural limões.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa groups limão, lima and cidra together.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word limaõ.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records the small sour lemons of Brazil.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lemon, the sour oval fruit of the limoeiro.^[2][3][1]
2. (Brazil) A lime.^[1]
3. The lemon tree.^[2]
4. The yellowish-green colour of the fruit.^[2][3]
5. (north-eastern Brazil) The iraxim, a stingless bee that smells of lemon.^[2][13]

Adjective

1. Of the colour of a lemon, between green and yellow; it does not change for gender or number.^[2][3]

Word family

• limoeiro

Related words

• Spanish limón

Usage notes

A different word limão is a regional name in Portugal for each of the two side timbers of an ox cart into which the stakes are fitted.^[15][16] The DLP derives it from French limon.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. limão
3. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. limão
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. limão
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. limão
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. 299
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 656
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. limón
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. limão
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. limão
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. limaõ
12. ^ 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, 4
13. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. limão
14. ^ 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. limão
15. ^ 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. limão
16. ^ 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. limão
17. ^ 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. limão