lousa

Forms

lousa f (plural lousas)^[1] Houaiss's historical forms are lausa (1115) and lousam (1138) in Latin charters, louza in a text of 1540–1619 and lousa from 1716.^[2] The variant loisa is in dictionaries from 1836.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lausa (“flat stone, slate”), a pre-Roman word.^[1][4][5] The adjective Latin lausiae is attested, in a phrase meaning “stone chips”, in the mining law of Vipasca, a bronze tablet of the 2nd century AD found at the Roman mines of Aljustrel.^[6][7] Houaiss and the DLP derive the word from this Latin form.^[2][8] Cunha calls the origin unknown.^[9]

Its further origin is disputed.^[6][1] Meyer-Lübke thought it Iberian or Celtic, and Schuchardt Celtic; the OLD labels the Latin word Celtic, while Corominas finds it neither Iberian nor Celtic.^[6][7][10] Wiktionary mentions Proto-Celtic *lausā (“stone”) and through it Proto-Indo-European *leh₁- (“stone”), but calls the connection problematic.^[1] Diez's Latin laus (“praise”) was rejected by Meyer-Lübke both for the sound and for the sense, since the main meaning is “flat stone” and not “tombstone”.^[6]

The same word is Galician lousa, Spanish losa, Catalan llosa, Occitan lausa and Old French lose, spread over the whole Iberian Peninsula, southern France and Piedmont.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters already have the word: trans illa lausa “beyond that stone slab” in 1115, lousam in 1138.^[11][2] The verb lousar “to cover with slabs” is recorded in the 14th century.^[12][9] The first dictionaries, Cardoso (1569), Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697), give only the sense “trap for birds or beasts”, a stone slab propped up to fall on the prey.^[13][14][15]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau refers lousa to lagea “flagstone” and to campa for the slab over a grave, and Morais lists the trap, the gravestone and a stone or tiled floor.^[16][17] In geology the word is the slate itself.^[2] The school slate gave the sense “blackboard”, the usual word for it in Brazil.^[2][18] Regionally it can also mean a rabbit's burrow.^[2][19]

Timeline

• 1115 – trans illa lausa in a Latin charter.^[11]
• 1138 – lousam in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 14th century – the verb lousar.^[12]
• 1540–1619 – the spelling louza.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Lousa with Latin decipula “trap”.^[13]
• 1716 – the spelling lousa.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais lists the flagstone for traps and graves, and lousa de maçacote, a floor of mortar.^[17][2]
• 1836 – the variant loisa.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geology) slate, a dark rock that splits into thin sheets; a sheet of it: O telhado da casa velha era de lousa.^[2][8][1]
2. A thin slab of stone used for paving or covering; a flagstone, laje.^[2][5][1]
3. A flat gravestone laid over a tomb.^[2][8]
4. A blackboard or school slate framed in wood, written on with chalk; quadro-negro.^[2][5][1]
5. A trap for birds or rodents, a slab propped on a stick that falls on the animal.^[2][18]
6. A hare's or rabbit's burrow; lura.^[2][19]

Word family

• lousar
• lousão

Related words

• Galician lousa
• Spanish losa

Usage notes

Lousa is also the name of places in Portugal;^[20] Figueiredo, as Nascentes reports him, took the name to mean land where there are slabs.^[20]

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 p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lousa
3. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. loisa
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lousa
5. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lousa
6. ^ a b c d Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke)
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c 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. lousa
9. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lousa
10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. losa
11. ^ a b 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. lousa
12. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lousar
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lousa
14. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lousa
15. ^ 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. lousa
16. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lousa
17. ^ 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, 34
18. ^ a b 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. lousa
19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5771
20. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. lousa