mangue

Forms

mangue m (plural mangues)^[1] Houaiss records mangues in 1513, mangre in 1596 and mangle in 1716;^[2][3] Bluteau heads the word mangue, ou mangle.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][4][5][6] Houaiss, Wiktionary and the DLP connect it with borrowed from Spanish mangle, a word of tropical America, which Houaiss calls Carib, from Taíno.^[2][1][7]

Corominas considers the Spanish word American, probably Carib or Arawak: Las Casas said it belonged to the language of Hispaniola, and Cuervo and Friederici accept a Taíno origin, but Henríquez Ureña found its structure not Arawak.^[8][9] Corominas also notes that the original form seems to be the Portuguese one and used by the first Spanish author to mention the tree, Fernández de Enciso in 1519, writing about Brazil.^[8] The ⟨l⟩ of the Spanish form may come from the derivative Spanish manglar.^[8] He rejects a Malay origin, because the word appears when there had hardly been any contact with the East.^[8] Houaiss's first Portuguese record, of 1513, is older than the Spanish ones.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, of 1513, has the plural mangues.^[2] Spanish sources name a Golfo de los Mangues near Cabo Frio in Brazil in 1519.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau describes the mangue as a tree of Brazil and the West Indies that loves salt water and grows on beaches and mudflats, and quotes Piso's three kinds, among them the white mangrove, which the native people of Brazil call cereiba.^[3] Vieira notes the tannin of its bark, used for tanning hides.^[11] From the tree the word passed to the forest it forms (by 1858) and to the muddy shore of ports and rivers where it grows.^[2][12] In Rio de Janeiro o Mangue was a district of prostitution, and the word became slang for a red-light area.^[2][1] In north-eastern Brazil mangue is also a noisy, confused business, and the musicians of the manguebeat movement use it for a fertile mixture of cultures.^[13]

Timeline

• 1513 – first record, mangues.^[2]
• 1519 – Golfo de los Mangues in Fernández de Enciso, about Brazil.^[9]
• 1526 – Oviedo's Spanish mangles.^[9]
• 1596 – the spelling mangre.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the tree of Brazil and the Indies.^[3]
• 1716 – the spelling mangle.^[2]
• By 1858 – the sense “mangrove forest”.^[2]
• 1889 – Beaurepaire-Rohan defines it as the muddy shores reached by salt water and the woods that grow there.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A mangrove, any of several trees, especially of the family Rhizophoraceae, that grow on tropical coasts reached by the tides, with stilt roots in black mud: As raízes do mangue sustentam a árvore na lama.^[2][1]
2. A mangrove forest or swamp, near beaches, river mouths and the muddy shores of ports and lagoons; manguezal, mangal.^[2][6][1]
3. (Brazil) The muddy shore of a port or river reached by salt water.^[14][15]
4. (Rio de Janeiro, informal, dated) A red-light district.^[2][6]
5. (north-eastern Brazil) A confused, noisy affair.^[13]

Word family

• manguezal
• mangue-vermelho
• mangue-branco
• mangue-preto

Related words

• mangal
• Spanish mangle

Usage notes

Michaelis and the DLP also record mangue for the mango and the mango tree, manga and mangueira.^[15][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mangue
3. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. mangue
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. mangue
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. mangue
6. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. mangue
7. ^ a b 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. mangue
8. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 810
9. ^ a b c d Friederici, Georg (1947), Amerikanistisches Wörterbuch, Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter, p. s.v. mangle
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mangle
11. ^ 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, 98
12. ^ a b Beaurepaire-Rohan, Henrique de (1889), Diccionario de vocabulos brazileiros, Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional, p. s.v. mangue
13. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. mangue
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. mangue
15. ^ 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. mangue