lua

Forms

lua f (plural luas)^[1] Houaiss records llua and luha in the 13th century, lua in the 14th and luua in the 15th;^[2][3] Cunha has lũa from the 13th century.^[4][5] The Horto do Esposo, copied 1390–1437, writes both lũa and lua.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lūna (“moon”), written Old Galician-Portuguese lũa in the oldest texts.^[4][5][1] Houaiss and Aurélio call it the popular outcome of the Latin word.^[4][6]

The same Latin word is Galician lúa, Spanish luna, Catalan lluna, Occitan luna, French lune, Italian luna and Romanian lună.^[7][1] The Latin word, Old Latin losna at Praeneste, goes back to Proto-Italic *louksnā.^[8][1] De Vaan reconstructs a PIE adjective meaning “shiny, bright”, probably used as an epithet of the moon, from the root of lūx (“light”); its cognates include Ancient Greek λύχνος (lúkhnos, “lamp”) and Avestan raoxšna- (“light”).^[8] Wiktionary gives the PIE form as Proto-Indo-European *lówksneh₂, from *lewk- (“to shine”).^[1] Vieira (1871) still derived it from Lucina, a name of Juno or Diana.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from the 13th century.^[4][5] A cantiga has a man who vio [e]na lũa “saw in the moon” the omen of a rich church.^[10] The sense is the moon itself.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) lists lua nova, lua chea, lua crecente and lua minguante for the phases.^[11] Morais (1789) records figurative phrases: ladrar à lua, said of someone railing at a person he cannot harm, ter a lua sobre o forno “to be moonstruck”, and homem de luas, a man of changeable temper.^[12]

The word also came to mean the space of a lunar month, the satellite of any planet, and things shaped like the moon, such as the Turkish crescent.^[4][13] In Timor the luas are gold or silver discs that warriors wear at the neck as a sign that they have cut off enemies' heads;^[14] Dalgado quotes Afonso de Castro on them, and Houaiss dates the sense to 1867.^[14][4] Brazilian usage adds the front of a saddle, the heat of animals and menstruation, and the moon as anything out of reach.^[4]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, spelt llua, luha and lũa.^[4][5]
• 14th century – the spelling lua.^[4]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo writes lũa and lua.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it by Latin luna.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists the phases lua nova and lua chea.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records ladrar à lua and homem de luas.^[12]
• 1867 – Houaiss's date for the Timorese lua, a metal disc.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (astronomy, often capitalised) The moon, the natural satellite of the Earth.^[4][13][1]
2. The moon as seen from the Earth, in one of its phases: lua cheia, lua nova.^[4][13]
3. (astronomy) A natural satellite of any planet: as luas de Marte.^[4][1]
4. The space of a lunar month.^[4][13][1]
5. moonlight.^[1]
6. An object shaped like the moon, especially a crescent.^[4][16]
7. (Timor) A gold or silver disc worn at the neck by warriors.^[4][13]
8. (Brazil) The arched front part of a saddle.^[4][16]
9. (informal) The heat of animals;^[13] (Brazil) menstruation.^[4][13]
10. (Brazil, informal, figurative) Something out of reach: pedir a lua.^[4]

Word family

• luar
• enluarado
• meia-lua
• aluado
• aluar
• luarento

Related words

• aluamento
• alunagem
• alunar
• alunissagem
• alunissar
• alunizar
• lunar
• lunático
• luneta
• lunação
• lúnula
• sublunar
• Latin lūna
• Galician lúa
• Spanish luna

Usage notes

Estar na lua or andar na lua means to be absent-minded, and estar com a lua to talk nonsense.^[13] Priberam notes that the name of the Earth's satellite is written with a capital, Lua.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. lũa
3. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. lua
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lua
5. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. lua
6. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. lua
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. luna
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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, 1344
10. ^ a b 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. lũa
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lua
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, 34
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. lua
14. ^ a b Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo (1919–1921), Glossário luso-asiático, 2 vols., Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, p. 1, 534
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. lua
16. ^ 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. lua