marinha

Forms

marinha f (plural marinhas)^[1] The oldest texts write marinna and marinha;^[2][3] Houaiss also records mariinhas (1365) and marynhas (1392).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin marīna (“(water) of the sea”), the feminine of marīnus (“of the sea, marine”) used as a noun, written Old Galician-Portuguese marinna in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] Nascentes describes it as the feminine of the adjective marinho turned into a noun, and Aurélio and Aulete say the same.^[5][6][7] Houaiss explains the Latin feminine as short for “sea water”, with aqua (“water”) understood.^[2]

The same Latin noun is Galician mariña, Spanish marina, Catalan marina, French marine and Italian marina.^[8][9] The Latin adjective is formed from mare (“sea”) with the suffix -īnus.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of 1045 and 1050 already write in illa marina, the Romance noun inside a Latin text.^[3] In Galician-Portuguese the word is first found in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, where a church is built na marinna “on the coast”, and in a cantiga d'escarnho of Afonso X whose speaker will go pela marinha, / vendend' azeite e farinha “along the coast, selling oil and flour”.^[3][10][11] The first sense is thus “seashore, coast”.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the sense “land by the sea, beach” to 1365 and the sense “salt pan”, a basin where sea water is left to evaporate, to 1405.^[2] Lorenzo's chronology has the salt-pan sense in 1405 as well.^[3] Bluteau gives both the beach and the salt pan, and notes that at Setúbal some salt pans were named after the spring tides that reached them.^[12] The salt pan is still a working word in Portugal: the salt makers speak of marinha nova, marinha velha and other kinds.^[13][14]

Morais (1789) adds the ships and seamen that make up the naval forces of a state, a marinha portugueza;^[15][2] Houaiss dates to the same year the sense “navigation by sea”.^[15][2] From the ships the word came to mean the navy as a branch of the armed forces, and the merchant fleet in marinha mercante.^[2][16] In art it names a seascape, a painting or drawing of the sea and its shores.^[2][6] In Paraná in Brazil marinha is the coastal strip, as opposed to the interior.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1045 – a Latin charter writes in illa marina de leza.^[3]
• 13th century – na marinna in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, pela marinha in a cantiga of Afonso X.^[3][10]
• 1365 – mariinhas “seashore” in Houaiss's records.^[2]
• 1405 – marjnhas “salt pans”.^[2][3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines marinha as the beach and as a place where salt is made.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais adds the ships and men of a state's naval forces.^[15]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira derives marinha from marinho.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A salt pan, a basin where sea water is held to obtain salt by evaporation; salina.^[2][14]
2. Land by the sea; beach, seashore: passeámos pela marinha até ao farol.^[2][6]
3. (Paraná, Brazil) The coastal region, as opposed to the interior.^[2][6]
4. A seascape, and a painting or drawing of one: comprou duas marinhas num leilão.^[2][6][1]
5. The navy; the ships, personnel and services of a country at sea, naval or merchant: serviu dez anos na Marinha.^[2][16][1]
6. What concerns navigation by sea and the work of the sailor.^[2][6]
7. (ichthyology) A pipefish of the African coast, Syngnathus ocus.^[2][14]

Word family

• marinha de guerra
• marinha mercante

Related words

• marinho
• marinheiro
• mar
• Latin marīnus
• Galician mariña
• Spanish marina

Usage notes

As the name of the armed force (a Marinha, Marinha de Guerra) the word takes a capital letter, beside Exército and Força Aérea.^[2][18] It is also the feminine of the adjective marinho “marine”.^[19]

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 p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. marinha
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. marinna
4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. mar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. marinha
6. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. marinha
7. ^ 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. marinha
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5359
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. marinus
10. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. marinha
11. ^ 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. marinha
12. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. marinha
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. marinha
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. marinha
15. ^ a b c 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, 59
16. ^ 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. marinha
17. ^ 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, 148
18. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5966
19. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. marinha