marra

Forms

marra f (plural marras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin marra (“weeding hoe”), a Latin word that Houaiss glosses “hoe for weeding; a kind of fishing hook”.^[2][3][4] The same Latin word is Italian marra, French marre, Old Occitan marra and Spanish marra “stone hammer”; the REW gives the Portuguese word the sense “iron mallet”.^[5][1] Galician marra has the same senses as the Portuguese word.^[6]

The Latin noun appears from the imperial period, in Columella, Pliny and Juvenal.^[7] Its origin is uncertain: the OLD compares Syriac and Assyrian words, and Wiktionary suggests a Semitic word passed on through Ancient Greek μάρρον (márrhon), or else, following Höfler, a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *merh₂-.^[7][1] Lewis and Short call it of unknown origin.^[8] Nascentes cites Walde for an Assyrian source.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1136 after Machado, without saying whether the record is in a Portuguese or a Latin text.^[2] In a cantiga d'escarnho of Johan Soarez de Pavia, people are said to have no fear de pico nen de marra “of pick or of sledge”, with the word meaning a tool for breaking stone.^[10][11] Viterbo found the sense “bank or ditch beside the road” in a document from Castro de Avelãs near Bragança.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau describes an iron tool with a hole for the handle, used to break stones.^[13] Morais (1789) refers it to marrão “sledgehammer” and adds a children's game of running and fleeing so as not to be touched.^[14] Morais (1813) takes Viterbo's “margin or bank beside the road”, and Vieira calls it a deep ditch near the road.^[15][16] The old Caldas Aulete has the weeding hoe, the roadside ditch and the clearing in vineyards and olive groves, together with the regional senses of the back of a blade and the stone that the ball strikes in a game of péla.^[17]

In Trás-os-Montes the word names a boundary stone between two plots.^[2][18] In Brazil it took on the informal sense “courage, nerve”, and the phrase na marra “by force, at any price, against one's will”.^[2][19]

Timeline

• 1136 – Houaiss's first date, after Machado.^[2]
• 13th century – pico nen de marra in a cantiga d'escarnho of Johan Soarez de Pavia.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the stone-breaking tool.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records the children's game.^[14]
• 1813 – Morais adds “bank beside the road” from Viterbo.^[15]
• 1975 – the first Aurélio records the Brazilian phrase na marra.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small hoe for weeding.^[2][19][4]
2. A ditch or channel running along a road or path.^[2][19][4]
3. A clearing in a vineyard or olive grove.^[2][19][4]
4. A large iron sledgehammer for breaking stone (marrão).^[2][4][21]
5. A children's game in which one player must keep the others from touching him.^[2][4][22]
6. (Minho) The back of a cutting tool, opposite the edge.^[2][22]
7. (Trás-os-Montes) A boundary stone between two plots of land.^[2][18]
8. (Brazil, informal) courage, nerve, boldness.^[2][22][1]

Word family

• marrão

Related words

• Latin marra

Usage notes

In Brazil na marra means “by force”, “at any price” or “against one's will”, and also “with daring”.^[2][19][4]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. marra
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. marra
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. marra
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5370
6. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. marra
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ 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. marra
10. ^ 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. marra
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. marra
12. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 123
13. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro)
14. ^ 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, 60
15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 272
16. ^ 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, 152
17. ^ 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. marra
18. ^ 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. marra
19. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. marra
20. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 916
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5976
22. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. marra