pança

Forms

pança f (plural panças)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling pansa in 1817–1819.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pantex (“belly, guts”) according to Houaiss and Wiktionary, a word mostly used in the plural, and is written Old Galician-Portuguese pança in the oldest texts.^[2][1] Houaiss explains the form by syncope of the unstressed vowel, and Nascentes supposes that the Latin masculine passed to the first declension, which accounts for the final /a/.^[2][3] DELPo starts from a Vulgar Latin *pantica.^[4] Aurélio, the DLP, Porto Editora and Aulete instead take the Portuguese word from Spanish panza, itself from the Latin noun.^[5][6][7][8] The record in the Cantigas de Santa Maria shows the word in Galician-Portuguese long before Houaiss's date of 1664.^[9][2]

Besides the Spanish word, the same Latin noun gave Catalan panxa, Occitan pansa, French panse and Italian pancia.^[10] Corominas notes that the Spanish word appears late, in 1475, because it was a very vulgar word.^[11]

The Latin noun was itself a colloquial word, perhaps from or related to pānus.^[1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a man brandishing his lance who struck another na pança “in the belly”.^[9] Houaiss's first date, 1664, is a record in a translation of the Aeneid.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1697 Pereira glosses pança with Latin venter tumidus “a swollen belly”.^[13] Bluteau (1712–1728) calls it a burlesque word, used in the same way by the Spanish, Italians and French, and cites Plautus and Martial for the Latin pantices used jokingly for the guts.^[14] Vieira (1871–1874) still labels it a popular word for a large belly.^[15]

The anatomical sense, the first and largest stomach of ruminants, is in Aulete and the modern dictionaries.^[8][2] Silva Bastos (1912) also records a potter's sense, the belly of a jug.^[16] In southern Brazil the word is used as a masculine noun for a ridiculous person.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria, which Lorenzo's chronology dates to that century, have na pança.^[9][17]
• 1664 – Houaiss's first dated record, in a translation of the Aeneid.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro glosses Pança as venter tumidus.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau calls it a burlesque term.^[14]
• 1817–1819 – the spelling pansa.^[2]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira labels it a popular word.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) The rumen, the first and largest compartment of a ruminant's stomach.^[2][7]
2. (informal) A big belly, a paunch; the belly in general: Depois do almoço ficou de pança cheia.^[2][1][18]
3. (southern Brazil, masculine) A ridiculous person.^[2][5]

Related words

• barriga
• Latin pantex
• Spanish panza

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pança
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pança
4. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. pança
5. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pança
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. pança
7. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6851
8. ^ a b 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. pança
9. ^ a b c 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. pança
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6207
11. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 379
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pantex
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. pança
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. pança
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, 643
16. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. pança
17. ^ 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. esperar
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pança