nuvem

Forms

nuvem f (plural nuvens)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote nuve, plural nuves and nuvẽes;^[2][3][4] nuven appears in the 14th century and nuvem in the 15th.^[2][3][4] Nascentes notes that nuve still lives on in popular speech.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nūbēs (“cloud”), written Old Galician-Portuguese nuve in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1]

The final nasal of the word has two explanations.^[2][1] Houaiss follows E. Williams, for whom the nasality of the initial /n/ spread to the end of the word, through the stages *nunve and *nunvem;^[2][5] Nascentes also speaks of the initial nasal carried forward.^[2][5] Wiktionary and the DLP instead start from a Vulgar Latin *nūbinem, a form with -n- added to the Latin word, while the DHLF derives the word from the Latin accusative.^[1][6][7]

The same Latin word is Galician nube, Spanish nube, Italian nube, French nue and Occitan niu.^[1][8][7]

De Vaan reconstructs *(s)nouþ-(i-) and *(s)ne/oudʰ-; its only close cognate is Welsh nudd (“haze”), and Avestan and Baluchi have words for clouds that may belong with it.^[9][1] Wiktionary notes that it is not related to nebula (“mist”), in spite of the likeness.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have a nuv' enlumẽada “the shining cloud” in their first song, and tell how God made as nuves abrir “the clouds open” and pour rain.^[3] The Miragres de Santiago have hũa nuve moy crara “a very bright cloud”, and the chronicle of 1344 writes the plural nuvẽes.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval texts nuve was the cloud of the sky, often the bright cloud of a vision.^[3] Morais (1813) records the figurative sense “a mass of things so thick that it darkens the air”, as clouds of arrows, bullets or locusts, and “a cloud of sadness” over the heart.^[10] The modern dictionaries add a dimming of the sight, a sorrow, and anything that clouds understanding.^[2][11]

Recent senses are the computer “cloud”, the internet as a store of data, and in southern Brazil the informal sense “a dishonest person”.^[1][2] The word passed to the creoles as Kabuverdianu and Guinea-Bissau Creole nuven and Papiamentu nubia.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – nuve and nuves in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[3][2]
• 13th century – first record of the derivative nuveado.^[4]
• 1344 – the plural nuvẽes in the chronicle of 1344.^[3]
• 14th century – the form nuven.^[2]
• 15th century – the modern spelling nuvem.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro heads the word Nuvem.^[12]
• 1813 – Morais records nuvem de setas and other figurative uses.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cloud, a visible mass of droplets of water or crystals of ice floating in the air: O céu encheu-se de nuvens escuras.^[2][11][1]
2. Any mass of dust, smoke or gas in the air: uma nuvem de poeira.^[2][11][1]
3. A great number of things moving together; a swarm: uma nuvem de mosquitos.^[2][13][1]
4. A passing dimness of the sight.^[2][11]
5. (figurative) Something that hinders understanding.^[2][11]
6. (figurative) A look of sadness; something that causes grief.^[2][11]
7. (computing) The cloud, the internet as a place for storing data and running services.^[1]
8. (southern Brazil, informal) A dishonest person, a rogue.^[2]

Word family

• anuviar
• desanuviar
• nuveado

Related words

• nublar
• nublado
• Latin nūbēs
• Galician nube

Usage notes

Cair das nuvens means to arrive unexpectedly, or to be utterly astonished.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. nuvem
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. nuve
4. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. nuvem
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. nuvem
6. ^ 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. nuvem
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. nue
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. nūbēs
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 352
11. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. nuvem
12. ^ 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. nuvem
13. ^ 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. nuvem
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. nuvem