ninho

Forms

ninho m (plural ninhos)^[1] Houaiss records ninho, niho and linho in the 14th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nīdus (“nest”).^[2][3][1] The Latin /d/ between vowels was lost, giving Old Galician-Portuguese *nio; the /i/ then became nasal and the nasal resonance turned into the palatal /ɲ/ of ⟨nh⟩.^[3][1] Nascentes ascribes the nasal vowel to the influence of the initial /n/, as in minha.^[4][5]

The same Latin word is Galician niño, Spanish nido, Catalan niu, French nid and Italian nido.^[6][1] The Spanish word is recorded from 1251.^[7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *nizdos and Proto-Indo-European *nisdós (“nest”), a compound of the preverb *ni “down” and the root of *sed- (“to sit”).^[1][8][9] It is cognate with Sanskrit नीड (nīḍá), Old Church Slavonic гнѣздо (gnězdo) and Old English nest.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss notes a Latin form nium in a law text that he dates, with a question mark, to the 11th century.^[2] The Portuguese word itself is recorded from the 14th century, with the sense “nest of a bird”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 has ninho pequeno and the proverb Ninho feyto, pega morta “the nest made, the magpie dead”, which he renders with the Latin for building at the twelfth hour, that is, too late.^[10] Bluteau (1712–1728) describes the nest as dry grass, straw and twigs woven together, and his book of synonyms gives it the senses “cradle”, “beginning” and “birth”.^[11]

From the bird's nest the word passed to the lair of other animals, to any refuge or hideout, to the parental home and to the homeland.^[2][12] Later senses are technical: a small cavity in a rock lined with crystals, and the dug-in post of a machine gun.^[2][13][1] Kabuverdianu has ninhu.^[1]

Timeline

• 11th century(?) – a Latin form nium.^[2]
• 14th century – ninho, niho and linho.^[2][3]
• 16th century – first record of ninhada.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Ninho with Latin nidus.^[14]
• 1611 – Barbosa records the proverb Ninho feyto, pega morta.^[10]
• 1813 – first record of aninhar.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nest: the structure a bird builds to lay and hatch its eggs and raise its young.^[2][12][1]
2. A place where animals shelter, sleep or bear their young; a ninhal.^[2][12][1]
3. A refuge, shelter or hiding place.^[2][12]
4. A den or covil, especially of wicked people.^[12][15]
5. (figurative) The parental house; one's lar, home.^[2][12][1]
6. (figurative) One's homeland.^[2][12]
7. (geology) A small cavity in a rock lined with crystals.^[2][12]
8. (military) A dug-in post for a machine gun: ninho de metralhadora.^[13][1]

Word family

• ninhada
• aninhar
• desaninhar
• ninhal
• ninhego

Related words

• nidícola
• nidificação
• nidificar
• ninheiro
• nidífugo
• Latin nīdus
• Galician niño
• Spanish nido

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include ninho de cobras “nest of snakes”, a place or group of treacherous people, and ninho de rato “rat's nest”, a mess.^[2][12] Fazer o ninho atrás da orelha means to deceive someone.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ninho
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ninho
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ninho
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 355
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5913
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nido
8. ^ 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, p. s.v. nīdus
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. nid
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ninho
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ninho
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ninho
13. ^ a b 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. ninho
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ninho
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6521
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ninho