medalha

Forms

medalha f (plural medalhas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian medaglia.^[2][3][4][1] The Italian word meant a coin of little value from the 13th century and took the sense of a small cast or struck piece of metal with a sacred or secular figure in the early 16th.^[5][2] It comes from Late Latin medālia, a dissimilated form of mediālia, the neuter plural of mediālis (“middle; worth half”), used for a copper coin worth half a denarius; the base is medius (“middle”).^[2][3][1]

Nascentes (1955) notes that Spanish medalla and French médaille are also put down to the Italian word,^[6] but Vieira derived the Portuguese word from the French one.^[7] Bluteau reported older guesses: Scaliger's Arabic coin name, and a link with Latin metallum (“metal”) because medals are made of metal.^[8]

The inherited Portuguese descendant of the Late Latin word is mealha, a medieval coin worth half a dinheiro, so the two are doublets.^[1][9] The Latin adjective goes back to *médʰyos (“between, middle”).^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569, which glosses medalha with Latin torulus.^[11] Houaiss and the addenda to Cunha date the word from a text of 1571.^[2][3] The sense is the commemorative or ornamental piece of metal, not the old coin.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) repeat Cardoso's gloss.^[12][13] Bluteau (1712–1728) describes a medal as a piece of beaten or struck metal with the likeness of a famous person on one side and a figure or emblem on the reverse, and discusses the collecting of ancient medals.^[8] Folqman (1755) adds the devotional medalha of a saint.^[14]

Vieira (1871–1874) gives the award to poets, orators, artists and exhibitors and the name for the coins of antiquity,^[7] and the old Caldas Aulete extends the prize to feats in sport.^[15] Modern dictionaries add the badge some professions must wear, a locket worn round the neck, and in Brazilian volleyball and football a hard ball that strikes a player in the chest or face.^[16][17][15] The phrase o reverso da medalha “the other side of the coin” means the bad side of a person or thing.^[18][19]

Timeline

• 1569 – Cardoso glosses medalha with Latin torulus.^[11]
• 1571 – first textual record cited by Houaiss and Cunha.^[2][3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes medals and their collecting.^[8]
• 1755 – Folqman records the medal of a saint.^[14]
• 1780 – the date of the first record in the main text of Cunha.^[3]
• 1858 – first record of the derivative medalhão.^[3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records medals given as prizes.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of metal, usually round, struck or cast to commemorate an event or honour a person, with an effigy (efígie), emblem or inscription.^[2][16][1]
2. The insignia (insígnia) of an order or a decoration awarded for merit.^[16][20]
3. A prize given to the winners of a competition or exhibition: medalha de ouro, medalha de prata.^[16][1]
4. A small piece with a religious image, usually blessed and worn round the neck.^[2][20][21]
5. A metal badge that members of certain professions must wear.^[16][15]
6. A locket of two lids worn as jewellery, holding a keepsake.^[17][19]
7. (numismatics) A Greek or Roman coin.^[20][18]
8. (Brazil, sport) In volleyball and football, a hard-hit ball that strikes a player in the chest or face.^[15]

Word family

• medalhão
• medalhar
• medalhista
• medalheiro

Related words

• mealheiro
• mealha
• meio
• Italian medaglia
• Spanish medalla

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. medalha
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. medalha
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. medalha
5. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. medaglia
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 323
7. ^ 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, 175
8. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. medalha
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mealha
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. medius
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. medalha
12. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. medalha
13. ^ 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. medalha
14. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. medalha
15. ^ a b c d 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. medalha
16. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. medalha
17. ^ 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. medalha
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. medalha
19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6033
20. ^ a b c 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. medalha
21. ^ 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. medalha