nó

Forms

nó m (plural nós)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nōdus (“knot”), written Old Galician-Portuguese noo in the 14th century; the modern form is recorded from the 15th, and Houaiss's first record is the plural Old Galician-Portuguese noos.^[2][3][1] The Latin /d/ between vowels was lost and the two vowels that met merged, a regular change also seen in sé from sēdēs.^[1] The learned nodo is its doublet, recorded from 1836.^[2][1]

The same Latin word is Galician nó, Spanish nudo, Catalan nus, French nœud, Italian nodo and Romanian nod, with Old Spanish nuedo and Mirandese nolo.^[4][1] The ⟨u⟩ of Spanish, Catalan and Gascon is irregular;^[4][5] Meyer-Lübke put it down to the verb añudar, from annōdō, and Corominas finds it not well explained.^[4][5]

The Latin noun has been compared with nót (“net”), 𐌽𐌰𐍄𐌹 (nati, “net”) and naidm (“bond”).^[6][7] Vieira, like Lewis and Short, derived it from a form with initial ⟨gn⟩, comparing Knoten; de Vaan finds the root etymology uncertain and allows that the word may be a loan.^[8][9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates noo to the 14th century and nó to the 15th, with the senses “knot”, “the hardest part of the wood” and “the joint of the fingers”.^[2] Houaiss's earliest record, noos, is from the 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Feijó (1734) insists that the plural is nós, not noses.^[10] Folqman (1755) has nós dos dedos, the knuckles, the node of a straw or cane, and the knot of a tree.^[11] Houaiss dates nó górdio, the Gordian knot of the legend, to 1757.^[3] The nautical unit of speed comes, as Nascentes explains, from the knots tied at intervals of 15.432 metres on the line of the ship's log, the distance covered in half a minute.^[12]

Figurative senses are the bond between people, the heart of a matter and an obstacle; the sciences use the word for the node of a standing wave and the junction in a syntactic tree.^[3] In Brazil it also names the Adam's apple, and in the slang of the gangs of Fortaleza a ring.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 14th century – noo.^[2]
• 15th century – nó and the plural noos.^[2][3]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses Nó with Latin nodus.^[15]
• 1734 – Feijó gives the plural nós.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman records the knuckles and the nodes of plants.^[11]
• 1757 – first record of nó górdio.^[3]
• 1836 – first record of the learned doublet nodo.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A knot tying together the ends of two cords, threads or straps, or the ends of one cord round something.^[3][16][1]
2. A loop or knot made at any point of a rope, to shorten it or make a noose.^[3][16]
3. A knot in wood; any hard or swollen part of a long object.^[3][16]
4. (anatomy) A knuckle.^[3][16][1]
5. (botany) A node of a stem, where leaves and branches grow.^[3][17]
6. (figurative) A tie or bond between people.^[3][16]
7. (figurative) The crux of a matter.^[3]
8. (figurative) A difficulty or obstacle.^[3]
9. (sewing) The knot at the end of a thread that stops it slipping out of the cloth.^[3]
10. (physics) A point of zero displacement in a standing wave; nodo.^[3]
11. (linguistics) A node in a syntactic tree.^[3]
12. (nautical) A knot, one nautical mile per hour.^[3][12]
13. A point where roads or paths meet; a junction.^[18][1]
14. A tightness in the throat that hinders swallowing; the Adam's apple.^[17][13]
15. (music) In a sung contest, a hard theme set by one singer for the other.^[3]

Word family

• nó cego
• nó górdio
• nó corredio
• entrenó

Related words

• nodo
• nódulo
• nodoso
• Latin nodus
• Galician nó
• Spanish nudo

Usage notes

A nó cego is a knot that cannot be undone, a nó corredio a slip knot, and a nó górdio an intractable problem.^[3]

In some dialects nó is a feminine variant of noz “nut”.^[1] Wikcionário records a Brazilian interjection nó! expressing surprise or admiration.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. nó
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. nó
4. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5948
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nudo
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. nōdus
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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, 437
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. nodus
10. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. nó
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. nó
12. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. nó
13. ^ 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. nó
14. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. nó
15. ^ 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. nó
16. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. nó
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. nó
18. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6530
19. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. nó