linha

Forms

linha f (plural linhas)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote linna and lyna in the 13th century;^[2][3] linha is found from the 14th, and lynhas in the 15th.^[2][3] Houaiss also records a form lia in 1799.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin līnea (“linen thread, string; line”), written Old Galician-Portuguese linna in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is the feminine of the adjective līneus (“of flax, linen”) used as a noun, from līnum (“flax”), so that it first meant a thread of flax.^[2][3][5] Wiktionary takes the Latin word for flax back to Proto-Indo-European *līno- (“flax”).^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician liña, Catalan llinya, Occitan linha and French ligne.^[6][1] The popular medieval form Old Spanish liña gave way to the learned Spanish línea, taken again from Latin and recorded from 1490.^[7][8] The Italian word, linea, likewise keeps the Latin form.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria (no. 67) someone foi sacar ao demo logo as linnas do sẽo, a phrase the glossary takes to mean roughly “drew the devil into revealing his hidden purposes”, literally “drew out the lines of his mind”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word already meant a cord, a fishing line, a carpenter's chalk line and a drawn or geometrical line, and in the imperial period also a line of descent.^[5][10] Cunha groups the Portuguese senses as the thread of flax, cotton or metal; a row, limit or boundary; a rule or norm and a degree of kinship; and a transport service.^[3] Bluteau has the sewing thread and then a long list of geometrical lines (straight, curved, perpendicular), and Folqman adds as linhas das mãos, the lines of the palm.^[11][12] Vieira records the senses “limit, frontier”, the fishing line and the beam of a roof truss.^[13] The 19th and 20th centuries brought the telegraph and telephone wire and connection, the electric line and the regular route of trains, ships and buses.^[2][14] Figuratively linha is a rule of conduct, a political line, composure and elegance, as in andar na linha “to behave” and perder a linha “to lose one's composure”.^[2][15][1]

In Portuguese India the plural linhas named the sacred thread worn by the Brahmins from their initiation, a translation of the Konkani name, with records from 1516; whether converts might keep wearing it was long debated by the missionaries.^[16]

Timeline

• 13th century – linnas in the Cantigas de Santa Maria;^[9][3] linna and lyna are the 13th-century spellings.^[9][3]
• 14th century – the spelling linha.^[2][3]
• 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires has the word, its first record in the CTA prose texts.^[17]
• 1516 – first of Dalgado's records of linha for the Brahmins' sacred thread.^[16]
• 1544 – lynhas in a private letter.^[18]
• 1697 – Pereira gives Latin linea and filum.^[19]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists the sewing thread and the lines of geometry.^[11]
• 1755 – Folqman has as linhas das mãos.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records “limit”, the fishing line and the roof beam.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. thread of twisted flax (linho) fibres, and by extension of cotton, silk or synthetic fibre, used for sewing, embroidery and lace.^[2][15][1]
2. A thin cord or string;^[2][20][21] (fishing) a fishing line with a hook: pescar à linha.^[2][20][21]
3. A system of wires or cables carrying electricity; a telegraph or telephone wire, and a telephone connection: O telefone ficou sem linha.^[2][14][1]
4. (geometry) A continuous trace considered as having length but no breadth; the intersection of two planes.^[2][22][1]
5. A real or imaginary line that marks a limit or boundary: a linha do equador.^[2][20]
6. A row of written or printed characters across a page or column; in the plural, the words written there.^[2][14][1]
7. A line of descent; linhagem, degree of kinship.^[2][3]
8. A row of people or things placed side by side or one behind another; fileira, queue.^[2][1]
9. A regular transport service between two points by a given route; a railway line or track.^[2][3][1]
10. (figurative) A rule of conduct or direction; a political line: Ele segue a linha do partido.^[2][15]
11. (figurative) Composure, good manners; elegance and class: perder a linha.^[2][1]
12. A range of related products.^[1]
13. (historical) A former unit of length, about 2.3 millimetres.^[1]

Word family

• entrelinha
• alinhar
• alinhamento
• alinhavar
• alinhavo
• linhada
• desalinhar

Related words

• alínea
• delineamento
• delinear
• lineamento
• linear
• linho
• linhaça
• linhagem
• Latin līnea
• Galician liña
• Spanish línea

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. linha
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. linha
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. linha
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. līnea
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5061
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 661
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. línea
9. ^ a b c 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. linna
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. ligne
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. linha
12. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. linha
13. ^ a b 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, 1321
14. ^ a b c 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. linha
15. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. linha
16. ^ a b Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo (1919–1921), Glossário luso-asiático, 2 vols., Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, p. 1, 527
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. linha
18. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. linha
19. ^ 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. linha
20. ^ a b c 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. linha
21. ^ 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. linha
22. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5706