madrinha

Forms

madrinha f (plural madrinhas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin mātrīna (“godmother”), a diminutive of māter (“mother”).^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss and Aurélio mark the Latin word as a reconstructed popular form, while Wiktionary notes that it is recorded from 753, and Nascentes quotes it from a Latin law of 1188–1230.^[2][5][6][1] Wiktionary gives the oldest form as Old Galician-Portuguese madrỹa.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician madriña, Spanish madrina, Occitan mairina and Italian madrina, and, with another suffix, French marraine.^[7][1] Nascentes calls the Latin form an affectionate diminutive, and Adolfo Coelho had instead explained it as formed from Portuguese madre + -inha.^[3][6]

The Latin noun continues *mātēr, from *méh₂tēr “mother”.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 14th century.^[2] The first records already have the church sense, the woman who presents a child at baptism.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) defines the godmother as the witness at a baptism, a wedding or a confirmation.^[9] The figurative sense “protectress” is in Caldas Aulete and Aurélio.^[10][5] The dictionaries also record the woman who names or launches a ship or opens a new venture, and the woman chosen to stand for a group.^[5][2] During the two world wars a madrinha de guerra wrote to soldiers at the front, often men she had never met, to keep up their spirits.^[5][4]

Brazilian Portuguese uses the word for the mare or mule with a bell that leads a pack train, the égua-madrinha.^[2][11] In the north-east it is also a name for a stepmother, and in the candomblé de caboclo of Bahia for a priestess.^[2][12] In Portuguese dialects the moon is called madrinha.^[13]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record.^[2]
• 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires uses the word.^[14]
• 1755 – Folqman glosses it with Church Latin matrina.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais defines the godmother at baptisms, weddings and confirmations.^[9]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos records the Brazilian mare that leads a herd of mules.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. godmother, the woman who presents someone for baptism (batismo) or confirmation (crisma).^[2][4][1]
2. A woman who acts as witness at a wedding.^[2][5]
3. (figurative) A woman who protects or sponsors someone.^[2][17]
4. A woman who names a ship or inaugurates something: a madrinha da nova ponte.^[2][10]
5. A woman chosen to represent a group or institution.^[2]
6. (Brazil) The mare or mule that leads a tropa of pack animals, often with a bell round its neck.^[2][5]
7. (north-eastern Brazil) A stepmother.^[2][12]
8. (Bahia, religion) A priestess of the candomblé de caboclo, a mãe de santo.^[2][12]

Related words

• padrinho
• madre
• mãe
• comadre
• Latin māter
• Galician madriña
• Spanish madrina

Usage notes

In Brazil a madrinha de apresentação carries the child to church and hands it to the godmother, or stands in for an absent godparent.^[2][5] In the Alentejo the word was also used for a rope noose for young bulls and for a tame ox that walks beside a colt being broken in.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. madrinha
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. madrinha
4. ^ 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. madrinha
5. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. madrinha
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 309
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5420
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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, 41
10. ^ 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. madrinha
11. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. madrinha
12. ^ a b c Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. madrinha
13. ^ 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. madrinha
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. madrinha
15. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. madrinha
16. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. madrinha
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. madrinha