pavão

Forms

pavão m (plural pavões, feminine pavoa, feminine plural pavoas)^[1] Houaiss records the old forms paaos (13th century), paaon and pããos (14th century), pãa and pauoões (15th century), and pavão from the 16th century.^[2] Cunha gives the plural paaos in the 13th century and pauõ in the 14th.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāvō (“peacock”), written Old Galician-Portuguese pavon in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The old forms Old Galician-Portuguese paaon and the plural paaos are written without the ⟨v⟩, which returns in the 16th-century spelling ⟨pavão⟩.^[2][3]

The same Latin word is Galician pavón, Catalan paó, French paon, Italian pavone and Romanian păun.^[4][1] Spanish pavo comes from the by-form pāvus, while Spanish pavón continues the usual form.^[5][6]

The Latin noun is probably an Eastern word: the OLD compares Ancient Greek ταώς (taṓs, “peacock”), and Wiktionary considers it likely borrowed from the Greek word or perhaps imitative of the bird's cry.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date is the 13th century, from Cunha, and Cunha's first record is the plural paaos in that century.^[2][3] The singular pavão with its modern spelling is recorded from the 16th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) gloss the word with Latin pavo and pavus, and Barbosa lists the feminine pavóa.^[8][9] Morais (1789) records the saying todos têm seu pé de pavão “everyone has some defect”, meaning a flaw the owner himself dislikes.^[10]

The figurative sense “very vain person” is recorded by Houaiss, the Porto dictionary and Michaelis.^[2][11][12] Astronomers use it for a southern constellation, Pavo, which the DLP says appears on navigators' charts from the 16th century.^[2][13] In Brazil it also names a native bird, the pavão-do-mato, and the nineteenth group of the jogo do bicho.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, in the plural paaos.^[3][2]
• 14th century – the forms paaon, pããos and pauõ.^[2][3]
• 16th century – the spelling pavão.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary lists pavão and pavóa.^[8]
• 17th century – first record of the verb pavonear “to strut”.^[3]
• 1789 – Morais records the saying about the peacock's foot.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (ornithology) peafowl, any bird of the genera Pavo and Afropavo of the pheasant family.^[2][1]
2. (ornithology) The Indian peacock (Pavo cristatus), whose male raises its long iridescent tail feathers in a fan.^[2][14][1]
3. (Brazil) The pavão-do-mato (Pyroderus scutatus), a South American bird.^[2][14]
4. (astronomy) Pavo, a constellation of the southern sky.^[2][13][1]
5. (figurative) A very vain, conceited person.^[2][12]
6. (Brazil) In the jogo do bicho, the nineteenth group, covering the numbers 74, 75 and 76.^[2]

Word family

• pavoa
• pavonear
• pavão-real

Related words

• Latin pāvō
• Galician pavón
• Spanish pavo

Usage notes

The feminine is pavoa.^[1][12] The phrase ter pé de pavão means to have some defect.^[15][10]

Dialect surveys in Portugal also record pavão as an adjective, “vain” at Vale de Porco and “stupid” at Freixo de Espada à Cinta.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pavão
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pavão
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6313
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 441
6. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. pavón
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pavão
9. ^ 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. pavão
10. ^ a b c 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, 171
11. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6986
12. ^ 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. pavão
13. ^ 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. pavão
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pavão
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pavão
16. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. pavão