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marinheiro

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word marinheiro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1200s a cantiga d'escarnho of Alfonso X More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin mare
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Portuguese marinha
Portuguese marinheiro

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ma.ɾĩˈɲe(j).ɾu/, [ma.ɾĩˈj̃e(ɪ̯).ɾu][1]
  • Portugal: /mɐ.ɾiˈɲɐj.ɾu/[1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /mɐ.ɾiˈɲej.ɾu/[1]
  • Central, Portugal: /mɐ.ɾiˈɲej.ɾu/[1]

Forms

marinheiro m (plural marinheiros, feminine marinheira, feminine plural marinheiras)[1] Houaiss records the old spellings marieiro (13th century), mariheiro (14th century), and marinheyro and marynheiro (15th century).[2] Cunha gives marynheyro and marleiro for the 13th century.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese marinha + -eiro, according to Houaiss and Nascentes.[2][4] Wiktionary and the DLP analyse it instead as marinho with the same suffix, and Wiktionary gives the oldest form as Old Galician-Portuguese marỹeiro.[1][5] Cunha derives it from Vulgar Latin *marīnārius.[3]

marinha continues Latin marīna (“(water) of the sea”), the feminine of marīnus (“of the sea”), from mare (“sea”).[6][7] Comparable words are Spanish marinero, Catalan mariner, Italian marinaio and French marinier.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in a cantiga d'escarnho of Alfonso X, who says he likes the sea better than being a knight, ca eu foi já marinheiro “for I was once a sailor”.[8][9] Houaiss dates the noun to the 13th century from Cunha's medieval index, in the sense of a man skilled in navigation.[2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) defines the word as a general name for everyone whose work makes a ship sail, and adds a Brazilian crab that the Portuguese called marinheiro because it climbs the mangrove trees.[10] Morais (1789) repeats both senses.[11] In 1813 he also records the adjective, said of a ship that sails easily.[12]

In Brazil the word became a nickname for the Portuguese in the north, which Nascentes explains by the discovery of Brazil by seamen.[4][2] In Ceará it can mean any foreigner.[2][13] Other Brazilian senses are a wholesale merchant from the capitals (Paraíba), a green coconut whose flesh has hardened (Alagoas), a grain of rice left in its husk after milling, and several plants, among them the shrub Trichilia cathartica.[2][13] In Portugal it is also an informal name for someone who carries money but says he has none.[2]

The word passed into Tetum as mariñeiru and into Ambonese Malay as marinyu.[1]

Timeline

  • 13th century – marinheiro in a cantiga of Alfonso X;[2] Houaiss also records the spelling marieiro.[8][2]
  • 14th century – the spelling mariheiro.[2]
  • 1500 – Cunha's date for the modern form marinheiro.[3]
  • 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires uses the word six times.[14]
  • 1569 – Cardoso translates it with Latin nauta.[15]
  • 1712 – Bluteau records the Brazilian crab called marinheiro.[10]
  • 1813 – Morais adds the adjective, said of a ship.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sailor, a seaman: a man skilled in navigation, or who works on board a ship.[2][1][16]
  2. (military) A rank in the navy below cabo and above grumete; a sailor holding that rank.[2][5]
  3. (Brazil, north, pejorative) A Portuguese person.[2][17]
  4. (Ceará) Any foreigner.[2][13]
  5. (Brazil, informal) A grain of rice or other cereal that kept its husk after milling.[2][18]
  6. (Alagoas) A green coconut whose flesh has already hardened.[2][13]
  7. (Portugal, informal) Someone who carries money but says he has none.[2][17]
  8. (botany) A Brazilian shrub, Trichilia cathartica, and several related trees.[2][16]
  9. (zoology) The mangrove crab Aratus pisoni, also called aratu.[2][17]

Adjective

  1. Relating to sailors or seamanship.[2][19]
  2. (nautical) Of a ship: handling well in any weather.[2][19]

Usage notes

Marinheiro de água doce “freshwater sailor” is an inexperienced sailor or, more widely, a novice;[2][5] marinheiro de primeira viagem “sailor on his first voyage” is someone doing a thing for the first time.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. marinheiro
  3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. marinheiro
  4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. marinheiro
  5. ^ a b c d 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. marinheiro
  6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. marinha
  7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. marinha
  8. ^ a b 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. marinheiro
  9. ^ 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. marinheiro
  10. ^ 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. marinheiro
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 271
  13. ^ a b c d Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. marinheiro
  14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. marinheiro
  15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. marinheiro
  16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. marinheiro
  17. ^ a b c 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. marinheiro
  18. ^ 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. marinheiro
  19. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. marinheiro
Cite this entry

“Marinheiro.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/marinheiro. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·