melro

Forms

melro m (plural melros, feminine mélroa or melra, feminine plural mélroas or melras)^[1] The medieval form was merlo, which Bluteau still used as his headword;^[2][3][4] melro is recorded from the 17th century.^[2][3][4] Nascentes notes that merlo still lives in the dialect of Estremadura.^[5] The feminine is mélroa or melra.^[1][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin merulus (“blackbird”), the Late Latin masculine of the classical merula.^[3][2][1] The oldest Portuguese form is Old Galician-Portuguese merlo, with the unstressed /u/ lost; the /r/ and /l/ then changed places (metathesis), giving the modern form.^[2][7][5]

The same Latin word is Galician melro, Spanish mirlo, Catalan merla, French merle, Italian merlo and Romanian mierlă.^[8][1] García de Diego records the same metathesis in Spanish dialects, mielro and milro, beside the standard form.^[9] The Spanish word is recorded from the 15th century as Old Spanish mierla.^[10]

The Latin word goes back to *meselā.^[11][1] It is related to the Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird”), the Old High German amsla and the Old English ōsle;^[11][1] Wiktionary mentions a root *h₂ems-, perhaps a north-western European substrate word.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest Portuguese record is the personal name Merlo in 1258, from a nickname.^[3][12] Cunha dates the form merlo to the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The form melro appears in the 17th century: Houaiss's date is before 1666, and Pereira lists Melro in 1697.^[3][13] Bluteau still described the bird under merlo, black and sweet-voiced.^[4] Vieira adds the figurative sense of a shrewd, cunning man, still current.^[14][15] In Brazil the name passed to American birds of the Icteridae family, above all the chopi blackbird.^[3][6][1]

Timeline

• 1258 – Merlo as a personal name.^[3]
• 13th century – the form merlo.^[2]
• before 1666 – first record of the form melro.^[3]
• 1697 – Pereira's dictionary lists Melro.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the bird under merlo.^[4]
• 1789 – Morais heads the word melro.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. The common blackbird (Turdus merula), a black thrush with a yellow bill.^[3][6][1]
2. (Brazil) The chopi blackbird (Gnorimopsar chopi), pássaro-preto, and other birds of the Icteridae.^[3][6][1]
3. (figurative) A shrewd, cunning person.^[6][15]
4. (Portugal) A percoid fish.^[15][17]

Word family

• melrinho
• melro-azul
• melro-peixeiro

Related words

• Latin merula
• Galician melro
• Spanish mirlo

Usage notes

Melro de bico amarelo “yellow-billed blackbird” is said of a cunning, sharp person.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. melro
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. melro
4. ^ 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. merlo
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 326
6. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. melro
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. melro
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5534
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. merula
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mirlo
11. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. 398
13. ^ a b 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. melro
14. ^ 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, 193
15. ^ 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. melro
16. ^ 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, 71
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. melro