ostra

Forms

ostra f (plural ostras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ostrea (“oyster”) (also neuter ostreum).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ὄστρειον (óstreion), also written ὄστρεον (óstreon), “oyster, mussel; purple dye”, the feminine coming from the Greek neuter plural ὄστρεα (óstrea).^[5][6]

The Greek word was long explained as a derivative of a stem meaning “bone”, as in ὀστέον (ostéon) and ὄστρακον (óstrakon, “shell, potsherd”), but Beekes rejects this because there is no evidence for such a pre-form and takes it as Pre-Greek, a likely origin for the name of a sea creature.^[5][1]

The same Latin word is Galician ostra, French huître and Italian ostrica.^[1][7] Spanish took its standard ostra from Portuguese, first recorded in Percivale's dictionary of 1591; the native Spanish forms were Old Spanish ostria and ostia, and ostión survives in Andalusia and America.^[8][9] Wiktionary also lists Catalan ostra among the words that come from the Portuguese one.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology antedates the word to a document of 1242–1252, which speaks of buying oysters (por mercar das ostras).^[10] Houaiss and Cunha also date it to the 13th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The early dictionaries gloss it with Latin ostreum and ostrea: Cardoso in 1569, Barbosa in 1611 and Pereira in 1697.^[11][12][13] Bluteau describes it as a shellfish of many kinds, all good to eat, and derives it from the Greek word for “shell”.^[14] Feijó records the derivative ostraria “a large number of oysters together”.^[15] Morais in 1813 adds a precious stone shaped like the oyster shell.^[16]

Brazilian Portuguese gave the word figurative senses: a bore who will not leave another person alone, from the way the oyster clings, and a seat fixed to the wall of an amphitheatre.^[2][17][18] It is also an informal word for a thick gob of spit, and in Portuguese slang a jeweller's display case.^[2][19]

Timeline

• 1242–1252 – por mercar das ostras in a document cited by Lorenzo.^[10]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses ostra as Latin ostreum.^[11]
• 1591 – Spanish ostra, taken from Portuguese, first appears in Percivale.^[8]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives the word from Greek.^[14]
• 1734 – Feijó lists the collective ostraria.^[15]
• 1813 – Morais adds the sense of a precious stone shaped like an oyster shell.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) An oyster: any of the marine bivalve molluscs of the family Ostreidae, with an irregular shell whose lower valve is fixed to rocks or other supports; many are eaten.^[2][20][1]
2. (Brazil, informal) A tiresome person who sticks to someone and will not leave them; a hanger-on.^[2][18]
3. (Brazil) A seat fixed to the wall of an amphitheatre.^[2][18]
4. (informal) A thick gob of phlegm.^[2][19]
5. (Portugal, slang) A jeweller's display case.^[2]

Related words

• ostracismo
• Latin ostrea
• Spanish ostra

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ostra
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ostra
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ostra
5. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ὄστρειον
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ostrea
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 369
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 321
9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ostra
10. ^ a b 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. ostra
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ostra
12. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ostra
13. ^ 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. ostra
14. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ostra
15. ^ 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. ostra
16. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 375
17. ^ 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. ostra
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. ostra
19. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. ostra
20. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ostra