orla

Forms

orla f (plural orlas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ōrula (“little edge”), a diminutive of ōra (“edge, border”).^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss gives the Latin diminutive as probable.^[5] Nascentes in his fuller dictionary of 1955 instead followed Meyer-Lübke in deriving the noun from the verb orlar, for which Houaiss and Cunha posit *ōrulō.^[6][2][7] Bluteau had already linked the word with the Latin noun, with Italian orlo and French ourlet, and noted Medieval Latin orlum.^[8]

The same diminutive is French orle.^[9] Spanish orilla is another Romance diminutive of the Latin noun, which Corominas matches with Portuguese ourela.^[10]

The Oxford Latin Dictionary explains the Latin noun as a collective formation from ōs (“mouth”).^[11] Wiktionary calls its origin unknown and suggests, with a Hittite word for “line, boundary”, a root Proto-Indo-European *h₁erh₂- (“border, line”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates both orla and orlar to the 16th century.^[2] Houaiss has an earlier date, 1103, taken from Machado, and then a 16th-century record.^[5] Pereira's dictionary of 1697 renders the word with Latin lacinia (“hem, fringe of a garment”), and Bluteau quotes the Arte Espiritual of Friar Paulo for the bells placed on the lowest hem of the priestly vestment.^[13][8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the hem or border of a garment.^[14][8] In heraldry the word names the border round a shield: Bluteau notes that the castles round the shield of the kings of Portugal were the orla added for the Algarve.^[8] Vieira in 1871–1874 adds the architects' fillet over the oval moulding of a capital, the rim of a volcano's crater, the edge of a coin with its inscription and the sailors' hem round a sail.^[15] The sense “strip of land along water, shore” is in the original Caldas Aulete, with quotations from Latino Coelho.^[16] In Rio de Janeiro a orla is the seafront district along the beaches of the south zone, and orla marítima is the seafront in general.^[16]

Timeline

• 1103 – Houaiss's first date, after Machado.^[5]
• 16th century – orla and orlar.^[2][5]
• 1697 – Pereira renders orla with Latin lacinia.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives the hem and the heraldic border.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais: hem of a garment; border of a coat of arms.^[14]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira adds the senses of architecture, geology, coins and sails.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. edge, border, the part that finishes something off: a orla do bosque.^[5][17]
2. A strip of land along a river, lake or the sea; margem, shore: uma casa na orla do lago.^[5][4]
3. (Rio de Janeiro) The seafront district along the beaches;^[16] orla marítima, the seafront.^[16]
4. The hem or trimming of a garment or other object.^[5][18]
5. (printing) A decorative frame round a page or picture.^[5][4]
6. (heraldry, numismatics) The bordure of a shield; the rim of a coin or medal.^[5][18]
7. (architecture) A fillet at the edge of a structural element, as under the oval moulding of a capital.^[5][17]
8. (geology) The rim of a volcanic crater.^[4][17]
9. (nautical) The hem round a sail.^[4][18]

Related words

• orlar
• ourela
• Latin ora
• Galician orela

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. orlar
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. orla
4. ^ a b c d e 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. orla
5. ^ 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. orla
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 367
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. orlar
8. ^ a b c d e Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. orla
9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. orle
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 297
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ōra
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. ora
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. orla
14. ^ a b 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, 139
15. ^ a b 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, 586
16. ^ a b c d 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. orla
17. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. orla
18. ^ a b c 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. orla