perna

Forms

perna f (plural pernas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin perna (“haunch, leg; ham”), written Old Galician-Portuguese perna in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] In Latin the word was used for the whole leg of an animal, and especially for a ham;^[4][5][6] Portuguese and Spanish widened it to the human leg, in place of Latin crūs (“leg”).^[4][5][6]

The same Latin word is Galician perna and Spanish pierna; Catalan perna and the dialects of southern France keep the older sense “ham”.^[7][8] Corominas notes that as the word for the leg it is essentially only Castilian and Portuguese.^[6]

The Latin noun is from *persnā and Proto-Indo-European *tspērsn-h₂- (“heel”).^[9][1] Its cognates mean “heel”: Ancient Greek πτέρνη (ptérnē), Sanskrit पार्ष्णि (pā́rṣṇi) and Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌽𐌰 (faírzna).^[9][1] De Vaan explains the Latin sense as a shift from “heel” to “haunch, upper leg”, and cites Lubotsky's view that the word is built on a compound of “foot” and a verb “to kick”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology has una perna de uaca “a leg of beef” in a document of 1242–1252, and the surname Martinus perna in 1260.^[10] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the word both for a chicken's leg (hũa perna … de galinna) and for a man's, as in a man que se tallara a perna “who had cut his leg”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The Crónica Geral uses the word for the human leg, broken or bleeding.^[10] A cantiga of Alfonso X already applies it to the legs of a ladder or a pair of compasses.^[11][10] Cardoso's first dictionary (1562) still glosses perna as “ham”, as the Latin perna, but his 1569 dictionary gives Latin crus “leg”.^[12][13] Bluteau (1712–1728) explains that anatomists call perna only the part from the knee to the ankle.^[14] Morais (1789) adds the legs of compasses, of a press and of a ship's rope.^[15]

Regional senses include “partner, companion” in north-eastern Brazil and “drunkenness” in the Minho.^[16][17] The word passed into Kabuverdianu and Guinea-Bissau Creole as perna.^[1]

Timeline

• 1242–1252 – una perna de uaca in a document.^[10]
• 1260 – the surname Martinus perna.^[10]
• 13th century, second half – the Cantigas de Santa Maria use perna for the legs of people and animals.^[10]
• c. 1430 – first record in the CTA corpus, in the Horto do Esposo.^[18]
• 1562 – Cardoso glosses perna as “ham”.^[12]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses perna with the Latin crus “leg”.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records as pernas do compasso.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) leg: each of the lower limbs of the human body, and in a strict sense the part between the knee (joelho) and the ankle (tornozelo).^[2][19][1]
2. Each of the limbs on which an animal stands or moves.^[2][20]
3. Each of the branches of a forked thing, such as the legs of a pair of compasses (compasso).^[2][21]
4. A leg of a table, chair or other piece of furniture; a supporting piece.^[2][20][1]
5. The leg of a pair of trousers.^[1]
6. The stem of a capital letter.^[2][17]
7. (north-eastern Brazil) A partner, companion.^[16]

Word family

• empernar
• entreperna
• espernear
• espernegar
• pernalta
• perneta
• pernil
• pernilongo
• perna-de-pau
• perna-longa
• pernaça
• pernada
• pername

Related words

• perni-
• perniaberto
• pernicurto
• pernigrande
• pernitorto
• Latin perna
• Spanish pierna

Usage notes

Passar a perna “to trip up, to cheat someone” and de pernas para o ar “upside down” are among the common phrases with the word.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. perna
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. perna
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. perna
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 393
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 538
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6418
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. perna
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g 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. perna
11. ^ 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. perna
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1562), Dictionarium juventuti studiosae admodum frugiferum, Coimbra: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. perna
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. perna
14. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. perna
15. ^ a b 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, 190
16. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. perna
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. perna
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. perna
19. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. perna
20. ^ a b 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. perna
21. ^ 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. perna