linho

Forms

linho m (plural linhos)^[1] Houaiss records lynno and lyo in the 13th century and linho in the 14th;^[2][3] Cunha has lino and līo in the 13th.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin līnum (“flax; linen”), written Old Galician-Portuguese lynno and Old Galician-Portuguese lỹo in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][4]

The same Latin word is Galician liño, Spanish lino, Catalan lli, French lin, Italian lino, Sardinian linu and Romanian in.^[5][1] The REW also lists Basque lio among the words taken from it.^[5]

Houaiss derives the Latin noun from Ancient Greek λίνον (línon, “flax, linen”).^[2] De Vaan treats the Greek word as a cognate, beside Old Prussian lynno (“flax”) and Lithuanian lìnas (“flax”); because the Latin, Greek and Baltic and Slavic forms point to different stems, no common Proto-Indo-European form can be set up, and the word was probably a borrowing meaning “flax”.^[6] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *līno-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date is 1257.^[2] A cantiga d'escarnho of Alfonso X mentions a man who wore o pano de linho “the linen cloth”, and another cantiga asks for a gift of linho dobrado “doubled linen”.^[7][8] The derivative linhaça “linseed” appears in 1286, also as liaça.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau describes how flax was sown, pulled, rippled for its seed, tied in sheaves and retted in the sand of rivers.^[10] Morais in 1789 distinguishes three kinds: gallego, the finest, mourisco, of middling quality, and canamo, the coarsest.^[11] Aulete records pedra de linho, a set number of hanks of flax and an old unit of weight.^[12]

Today the word names the genus Linum, the cultivated flax Linum usitatissimum, its fibre and the fabric woven from it.^[2][13] In Rio Grande do Sul flax growing was part of the history of the state.^[14]

Timeline

• 1257 – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 13th century – the forms lynno, lyo, lino and līo;^[2][3][7] pano de linho in a cantiga of Alfonso X.^[2][3][7]
• 1286 – linhaça and liaça “linseed”.^[9]
• 14th century – the spelling linho.^[2]
• c. 1430 – linho in the Horto do Esposo (witness of 1390–1437).^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with the Latin linum.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais distinguishes three kinds of flax.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) Any plant of the genus Linum.^[2][17]
2. flax, Linum usitatissimum, grown for its fibre and its oily seed, linhaça.^[2][18][1]
3. The fibre obtained from the stem of flax.^[13][18]
4. linen, the fabric woven from that fibre.^[2][19][1]

Word family

• linhaça

Related words

• lenço
• linha
• Latin līnum
• Spanish lino

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. linho
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. linho
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. linho
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5073
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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. linho
8. ^ 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. linho
9. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. linhaça
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. linho
11. ^ 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, 7
12. ^ 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. linho
13. ^ 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. linho
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 2, s.v. linho
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. linho
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. linho
17. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. linho
18. ^ 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. linho
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. linho