malho

Forms

malho m (plural malhos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin malleus (“hammer, mallet”), through the popular spoken language.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes compares Spanish mallo.^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician mallo, Catalan mall, Old Occitan malh, French mail, Italian maglio and Romanian mai, and Spanish majo “threshing machine”.^[6][1] The REW lists the Portuguese word itself with the sense “flail”.^[6] Wiktionary derives the flail sense separately, from an unattested older form that it derives from Latin manualis (“held in the hand”) under the influence of the hammer word, and compares mangual; the dictionaries of Houaiss, the Academia and Priberam give the flail as a sense of this one word.^[1][2][7][8]

De Vaan reconstructs the Latin noun as *molalo- (“hammer”) and traces it to a PIE instrument noun *molH-lo- (“crushing instrument”), from the root for grinding, with the same development of meaning as in Old Church Slavonic млатъ (mlatŭ, “hammer”).^[9][1] Wiktionary names the root Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”) and calls the etymology disputed.^[1] Schrijver's proposal derives the noun from an older *malalo- with the suffix -eus.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 14th century from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese, while Cunha's dictionary records it only from the 16th century.^[2][3] The oldest dated text in the CTA corpus that uses it is the Vida de Santo Agostinho, in a witness of 1480–1510.^[10] Viterbo quotes an old document of the Benedictine nuns of Porto saying the community was called por malhos tangidos “by struck mallets”, because bells could not be rung under an interdict.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries define the word as the smith's iron hammer: Pereira (1697) glosses it with Latin malleus, and Bluteau calls it the blacksmith's hammer.^[12][13] Bluteau also records a falconry sense, the leather strap that carries the bells of a bird of prey, which Morais repeats.^[13][14] Morais has the phrase entre o malho e a bigorna “between the hammer and the anvil”, that is, in great straits.^[14] Vieira adds the wooden clapper used to call a community to chapter and the small hammer of the master of a Masonic lodge.^[11]

The old Caldas Aulete has the sense “flail” as a Portugal regionalism and a figurative “clever, quick person”.^[15] In the 20th century Brazilian Portuguese made meter or descer o malho a phrase for harsh criticism, and Houaiss records the Portuguese informal sense “one-escudo coin”.^[2][16] The Portuguese dialect surveys record the word for a flail used to thresh rye and for a tool to break flax.^[17]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record in Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese, as Houaiss dates it.^[2]
• 1480–1510 – the Vida de Santo Agostinho uses the word.^[10]
• 1619 – a private letter has malho.^[18]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro glosses it with Latin malleus.^[12]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as the blacksmith's hammer and the falconer's bell strap.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records entre o malho e a bigorna.^[14]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira adds the chapter clapper and the Masonic hammer.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sledgehammer: a large hammer of iron or wood with a heavy head and no claw, held with both hands, used to beat iron.^{[2][16][7][1]}
2. A rammer or beetle used by pavers.^[2][16][7]
3. A wooden clapper (matraca) used in some religious communities to call the members.^[2][7][19]
4. A mallet for fitting and driving the wheels of a cart.^[7][19]
5. (Portugal, regional) A flail (mangual), or its handle.^[8][1][17]
6. (figurative, informal) Harsh criticism or a vehement attack; slander.^[2][15]
7. (music) A drumstick used on percussion instruments.^[2]
8. (Portugal, informal) A sudden or spectacular fall.^[8][1]
9. (Portugal, informal, dated) A one-escudo coin.^[2]
10. (figurative, dated) A skilful, quick-witted person.^[2][19]

Word family

• malhar
• malhete

Related words

• malhação
• malhador
• malhadouro
• mangual
• Latin malleus
• Galician mallo

Usage notes

The phrase estar entre o malho e a bigorna “to be between the hammer and the anvil” means to be in a tight spot.^[2][14] In Brazil meter o malho or descer o malho em alguém means to speak ill of someone.^[16][19]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. malho
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. malho
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. malho
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. malho
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5268
7. ^ a b c d e 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. malho
8. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. malho
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. malho
11. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 64
12. ^ a b 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. malho
13. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro)
14. ^ a b c d 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, 46
15. ^ 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. malho
16. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. malho
17. ^ 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. malho
18. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. malho
19. ^ a b c d 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. malho