merenda

Forms

merenda f (plural merendas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin merenda (“light afternoon meal”), written Old Galician-Portuguese merenda in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Houaiss gives the etymon as Medieval Latin, meaning an afternoon or evening meal.^[2] Nascentes 1966 alone calls the word learned.^[4]

The same Latin word is Galician merenda, Spanish merienda, Catalan berena, Italian merenda, Romanian merinde and Old French marende.^[5][1]

The Latin noun is the gerundive of mereō (“to earn, deserve”), “what is to be earned”: it seems to have been a light afternoon meal first given to labourers as part of their wage.^[6][3][7] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *merēō and Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to assign, allot”), and is related to Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “share, portion”).^[1] Bluteau reported the old learned debate, in which some derived the word from the Latin for midday and others from the verb “to deserve”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin laws of 1188–1230 in the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica already use the Romance noun: a workman who asks merenda for his labour.^[9][2] In the Galician-Portuguese poetry the word appears in a satirical cantiga of Estevan da Guarda, se lhe cuidas dar merenda “if you mean to give him a merenda”, where it means a tip or reward for work.^[9] Cunha dates the word to the 13th century, and Houaiss records the sense “meal” in 1365.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the word was tied to work and dues: besides the reward of the cantiga, a document of Paço de Sousa of 1418 uses it for a payment in kind that tenants made to the landlord when they took over a leasehold, a sense Viterbo and Houaiss record.^[10][2]

Cardoso (1569) renders it with Latin merenda and antecaenium, the snack before supper;^[11][8][12] Bluteau and Morais (1789) define it as food eaten in the afternoon, between the midday jantar and the evening ceia.^[11][8][12] The modern dictionaries add the provisions taken on a journey or picnic and the snack children take to school; in Brazil merenda escolar is the meal served free in state schools.^[2][13][14] In Portugal the word also names a small bread baked with a filling of sausage or ham, and a late-night meal.^[15]

Timeline

• 1188–1230 – Latin laws of the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica use merenda for a workman's due.^[9]
• 1200s – first Portuguese records, according to Cunha.^[3]
• 1365 – the sense “meal”.^[2]
• 1418 – a document of Paço de Sousa uses it for a payment made by tenants.^[10]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists merenda.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as food eaten in the afternoon, after jantar and before ceia.^[12]
• 1873 – first record of the derivative merendeira.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A light meal, usually in the afternoon, between lunch and dinner; lanche.^[2][13][1]
2. A snack that children take from home to eat at school, usually at break.^[2][13][1]
3. Food and drink taken on a journey, outing or picnic; farnel.^[2][15]
4. (Brazil) merenda escolar: a substantial meal served to children in state schools.^[2][14]
5. (Portugal) A small bread baked with a filling, usually chouriço or ham; a pastry filled with cheese and ham.^[15][16]
6. A meal eaten late at night.^[15][16]
7. (historical) A due paid by tenants to the landlord when they took over a leasehold.^[2][10]

Word family

• merendar
• merendeira
• merendeiro

Related words

• Latin merenda
• Spanish merienda

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. merenda
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. merenda
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. merenda
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5521
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. merenda
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. merenda
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. merenda
9. ^ 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. merenda
10. ^ a b c 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, 130
11. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. merenda
12. ^ 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, 76
13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. merenda
14. ^ a b 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. merenda
15. ^ 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. merenda
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. merenda