perca

perca¹ perch

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈpɛʁ.kɐ/, [ˈpɛh.kɐ]^[1]
• São-Paulo: /ˈpɛɾ.kɐ/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /ˈpɛʁ.kɐ/, [ˈpɛχ.kɐ]^[1]
• Caipira: /ˈpɛɻ.kɐ/^[1]

Forms

perca f (plural percas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the perch is borrowed from Latin perca (“perch”), which Houaiss and Aurélio take through the scientific genus name ⟨Perca⟩.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πέρκη (pérkē, “perch”).^[6][1] Wiktionary traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“spotted, speckled”), and the LSJ suggests it may be related to περκνός (perknós, “dusky”).^[1][7]

The Latin word also gave Italian perca and French perche.^[8] Corominas holds that Spanish perca was taken from Portuguese, as its undiphthongised vowel shows.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1634.^[2] Bluteau quotes Bento Pereira's Prosodia for Perca peixe regalado “perch, a delicious fish”, and describes it as a freshwater fish said to live in the sea as well.^[11] Cunha also places the first record in the 17th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Morais in 1789 enters the word simply as “a fish”, on the authority of Bento Pereira.^[12] Vieira in the 1870s treats it as a zoological term, a genus of spiny-finned fishes.^[13] Today the name covers the European perch, Perca fluviatilis, and in a wider use many similar fishes, freshwater and marine, named in compounds such as perca-do-mar.^[3][14] Spanish took the word from Portuguese: Terreros has it, and the Spanish Academy from 1843.^[9]

Timeline

• 1634 – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau cites Bento Pereira's Perca peixe regalado.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais lists perca as a fish.^[12]
• 1843 – the Spanish Academy's dictionary takes in Spanish perca, borrowed from Portuguese.^[9][10]
• 1873 – first record of the derivative percoide.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A perch, a freshwater fish of the genus Perca, especially Perca fluviatilis.^[2][3][1]
2. Any of many similar spiny-finned fishes, of fresh or salt water.^[14]

Word family

• percoide

perca² loss

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /ˈpeʁ.kɐ/, [ˈpeh.kɐ]^[1]
• São-Paulo: /ˈpeɾ.kɐ/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /ˈpeʁ.kɐ/, [ˈpeχ.kɐ]^[1]
• Caipira: /ˈpeɻ.kɐ/^[1]

Forms

perca f (plural percas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for loss is a back-formation from Portuguese perder (“to lose”).^[2][3][15] Houaiss explains it through the stem ⟨perc-⟩ of the present perco “I lose”, which replaced the older ⟨perço⟩ under the influence of its opposite, then ⟨venco⟩, today venço “I win”.^[2] Nascentes (1955) and the original Caldas Aulete instead derive it from the present subjunctive of the verb, which is spelt the same, and Wiktionary from an inflected form of the verb.^[16][17][1] The verb itself is from Latin perdō (“to lose”).^[18]

Earliest recorded meaning

Morais's dictionary of 1813 notes that the common people say perca wrongly in place of perda.^[19] Houaiss takes his date of 1813 from it.^[2] Cunha dates the noun to 1844, with an addendum that finds it in Constâncio's dictionary of 1836.^[18]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its popular standing: Houaiss labels it informal Brazilian and a non-preferred form of perda, Aurélio and the DLP mark it as popular, and the senses are “loss, damage, harm”.^{[2][3][5][14]} It is also recorded in the dialects of Portugal.^[20]

Timeline

• 1813 – Morais records perca as a popular error for perda.^[19]
• 1836 – Constâncio's dictionary lists it.^[18]
• 1844 – Cunha's first date.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. (informal, proscribed) loss; a non-preferred synonym of perda.^{[2][3][21][1]}
2. damage, harm.^[14][17]