pau

Forms

pau m (plural paus)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote pao and, with a false doubled vowel, paao;^[2][3] Houaiss records paaos in 1391.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pālus (“stake, post”), written Old Galician-Portuguese pao in the oldest texts.^[3][4][5][1]

The same Latin word is Galician pau, Spanish palo, Catalan pal, Occitan pal, French pieu, Italian palo and Romanian par.^[6][7] Corominas notes that Spanish and Portuguese gave it senses, such as “wood” and “tree”, that the other Romance languages lack.^[8][9]

The Latin noun is from Proto-Italic *pākslos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-slos, a derivative of *peh₂ǵ- (“to attach, fix”);^[1][10] Latin pangō (“to fix, drive in”) is of the same root.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[3][4] Lorenzo's chronology quotes the Fuero Real (se o ferir cũ pao “if he strikes him with a stick”) and a cantiga by Johan Velho de Pedrogaez, que vo-lo mande põer en hũ paao “that he have him put on a stake”, that is, hanged.^[2][11] The Crónica Troiana has moytos paos ferrados “many iron-tipped staves” thrown in battle.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Already in the medieval texts the word meant a stick or staff, a stake, a piece of timber, and the stick thrown in the knightly game of the tavolado.^[2][11] Aulete's old dictionary has the wood itself as a material (colher de pau) and corporal punishment.^[12] Its plural paus names the suit of clubs, which old packs of cards showed as staves.^[5]

Many tree names are compounds with pau: pau-brasil gave its name to Brazil, and Silva Bastos lists dozens more.^[13] In north-eastern Brazil, as in the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa, pé de pau means any tree whose name is not known.^[14] Modern Brazilian slang uses it for a unit of money (custou duzentos paus), for failing an exam (levar pau) and, vulgarly, for the penis.^[12][1] The word passed into Kabuverdianu pó, Guinea-Bissau Creole po and Swahili pau.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, spelt pao.^[3][4]
• 1391 – the plural paaos.^[3]
• 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires has pao.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stick, piece of wood: a staff, pole, rod or beam: Juntou uns paus para a fogueira.^[3][16][1]
2. wood as a material: uma colher de pau.^[16][1]
3. (by extension) A beating; corporal punishment.^[3][16]
4. (football) A goalpost.^[3][12]
5. A stick-shaped piece of a solid substance: pau de canela, pau de giz.^[3][17]
6. (nautical) A mast or spar; a flagpole.^[16][12]
7. (in the plural) clubs, one of the four suits of playing cards.^[5][1]
8. (Brazil, slang) A unit of money: Paguei cinquenta paus pelo bilhete.^[12][1]
9. (Brazil, informal) Failure in an exam: levar pau.^[12]
10. (vulgar) The penis.^[1][18]

Word family

• paulada
• palito
• paliteiro
• paulito
• pau-brasil
• pau-preto

Related words

• empalar
• paliçada
• Latin pālus
• Galician pau
• Spanish palo

Usage notes

Pau para toda obra is someone who is good for any task.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. pao
3. ^ 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. pau
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pau
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pau
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6182
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 356
9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. palo
10. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. pao
12. ^ a b c d e f 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. pau
13. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. pau
14. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. pau
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. pao
16. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pau
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6980
18. ^ 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. pau