máquina

Forms

máquina f (plural máquinas)^[1] The word was spelt machina from the 15th century;^[2][3] Houaiss records maquina in 1716.^[2][3] Feijó (1734) allows máquina or máchina and rejects mánica.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin machina (“machine, engine; contrivance”), recorded from the 15th century.^[2][3][1] Nascentes and Houaiss treat it as a learned word.^[5][2] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek μαχανά (makhaná, “means, device”), the Doric form of μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, “contrivance, machine”).^[3][6][7][1] Wiktionary calls it a very early borrowing, because Latin reduced the unstressed /a/ to /i/, and takes the Greek word from μῆχος (mêkhos, “means”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂gh- (“to be able”).^[1]

Spanish máquina, French machine and Italian macchina are learned forms of the same Latin word, which survives in popular form in Italian macina (“millstone”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is from the 15th century, spelt machina.^[2] Cunha's is from 1572, in the general sense “any implement or instrument”, and Houaiss dates the figurative “the parts that make up a whole, an organic structure” to the same year.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau defines the word as a mechanical engine of many parts that produces extraordinary effects, and has maquina militar for an engine of war.^[10] Morais (1813) lists mills, pulleys and capstans, and the engines of ships and of war, with a figurative “great mass” (máquina de gente) and máquina infernal for a fireship.^[11]

With industry the word came to mean the steam engine, the locomotive and appliances such as the sewing machine and the typewriter.^[6][12][1] Figurative uses grew with it: the machinery of the state or of a party, and a person who acts by routine like an automaton.^[2][13][1] In Brazil it is also, informally, a car and a revolver, and in parts of Portugal a still.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, spelt machina.^[2]
• 1572 – Cunha's first record, and Houaiss's first date for “organic structure”.^[3][2]
• 1716 – first record of the spelling maquina.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó discusses máquina and máchina.^[4]
• 1789 – first record of maquinista.^[15]
• 1813 – Morais records máquina infernal “fireship”.^[11]
• 1858 – first records of maquinismo and maquineta.^[3][16]
• 1890 – first record of maquinaria.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A machine, a device that transforms one form of energy into another or uses it to do work: uma máquina a vapor.^[2][6][1]
2. Any mechanical equipment of connected parts that replaces human work, in farming, printing or industry.^[2]
3. A household appliance;^[2][1] (informal) a washing machine.^[2][1]
4. A device worked by an operator: máquina fotográfica, máquina de escrever.^[2][1]
5. (computing) A computer.^[2][12][1]
6. The mechanism of an instrument.^[2][6]
7. A locomotive.^[6][12]
8. (Brazil, informal) A car.^[2][13]
9. (figurative) The parts that make up a whole: a máquina do universo.^[2][6]
10. (figurative) The apparatus of the state or of an organisation that works with machine-like regularity: a máquina partidária.^[2][1]
11. (figurative) A person who acts by habit and routine, or who obeys blindly.^[2][12][1]
12. (Brazil, informal) A revolver.^[2]
13. (Portugal, regional) A still for distilling wine.^[14]

Word family

• maquinal
• maquinaria
• maquinário
• maquinismo
• maquineta
• maquinista

Related words

• maquinação
• maquinador
• maquinalidade
• maquinalmente
• maquinante
• maquinar
• Spanish máquina

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 u v w Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. máquina
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. máquina
4. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. máquina
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. máquina
6. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. máquina
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. māchina
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5205
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. machina
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. máquina
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 266
12. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. máquina
13. ^ a b 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. máquina
14. ^ 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. máquina
15. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. maquinista
16. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. maquineta