pata

Forms

pata f (plural patas)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is obscure: Houaiss and Nascentes think it is probably imitative of the sound an animal's feet make as it walks.^[2][3] Wiktionary takes it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *patta (“paw, foot”), through an unattested Old Galician-Portuguese *pata.^[1] The REW also sets up this Latin form and calls it a sound word.^[4]

Corominas notes that the word belongs to Spanish, Portuguese and French only (Spanish pata, French patte), and that a variant *pauta gave Catalan pota, Occitan pauta and Old French poe, the source of the English word paw.^[5] Old and dialectal Portuguese had this variant too, as Old Galician-Portuguese pouta “claw”, and Galician still has pouta for a clawed paw.^[5][6] Corominas thinks the onomatopoeia of stamping the most likely source; the Germanist Frings derived the word from Frankish, comparing German Pfote and Middle Low German pōte.^[5] García de Diego lists the Frankish and the onomatopoeic explanation, and himself connects the word with Latin pēs (“foot”).^[7] Wiktionary gives the alternative Frankish *patta, from *pat- (“to walk, tread”).^[1]

Bluteau derived it from pato, the duck with its broad feet.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau uses it for the feet of animals and for a broad, flat human foot, and records andar à pata “to go on foot” as popular speech.^[8] Morais (1813) gives the same uses, with a pata do boi, do cavalo, do cão.^[9] The original Caldas Aulete adds the nautical sense, the triangular fluke at the end of an anchor's arm.^[10] Today it is the usual word for the foot or leg of an animal, and a pejorative word for a person's large foot or hand.^[2][11] In Rio Grande do Sul patas do freio are the side pieces of a horse's bit, an expression shared with the Spanish of the River Plate.^[12] The word passed into Papiamentu as pata.^[1]

Timeline

• 1537–1583 – first record.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records andar à pata “to go on foot”.^[8]
• 1813 – Morais lists a pata do boi, do cavalo.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The foot of an animal; paw.^[2][13][1]
2. Each of the limbs of an animal on which it walks or stands; leg: O cão ferido levantava uma das patas.^[2][14]
3. (pejorative, informal) A person's foot or hand, especially a very large foot: Tira as patas da mesa!^[2][11][14]
4. (nautical) The triangular fluke at the end of each arm of an anchor (âncora).^[2][13]

Word family

• patada
• patear

Related words

• Spanish pata
• French patte

Usage notes

Fixed expressions: à pata “on foot”;^[2][13] meter a pata “to blunder, to spoil things”;^[2][13] debaixo da pata (de alguém) “completely under someone's control”.^[2][13]

Houaiss and Aurélio treat pata “female duck”, recorded since the 14th century, as the feminine of pato (pato with the ending -a), a word of its own; in Brazil it also names a hammerhead shark.^[2][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pata
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pata
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6301
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 423
6. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. pouta
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *patta
8. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pata
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 410
10. ^ 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. pata
11. ^ 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. pata
12. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. pata
13. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pata
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pata