pevide

Forms

pevide f (plural pevides)^[1] Houaiss records pevidas in the 14th century (with a query), peuides in the 15th and pivide in 1606;^[2][3] Cunha has peuida in the 15th century and piuide in the 16th.^[2][3] Feijó in 1734 prescribes pevide, not pivida.^[4] Portuguese dialects also have pevida, pevídia, povida and povide.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pīpīta, an altered form of Latin pītuīta (“mucus, phlegm”).^[2][3][6][7] Wiktionary takes it from Medieval Latin pipita, a form of Early Medieval Latin, and names the learned borrowing of the Latin word as its doublet.^[1] García de Diego notes that this form is recorded in a Latin glossary.^[8] The older form was Old Galician-Portuguese pevida, from which Cortesão derived the modern word.^[7][9] Nascentes cites Cornu, who took the u of the Latin word as a consonant, and Menéndez Pidal, who set up the steps *pitpita and *pippita.^[9]

The same Latin word is Galician pebida, Spanish pepita, Occitan pepida, French pépie and Italian pipita.^[10][9] A form with -pp- also gave Germanic words such as German Pips and English pip.^[11]

The Latin word was first the disease of birds; its own origin is unclear, and de Vaan finds none of the proposed explanations convincing.^[10][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Foros de Beja, quoted by Nascentes, speak de todas pevidas de cabaças “of all pumpkin seeds”.^[9] Seeds of cucurbits are still the first sense in Houaiss.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Folqman in 1755 renders pevide de melão by Latin semen peponis “melon seed”.^[13] The sense of a disease of birds, the film on the tongue of hens that stops them drinking, continues the Latin one.^[2][10] Later senses come from the shape of the seed: a pasta for soup, and the charred end of a wick.^[2][14] Caldas Aulete adds the defect of being unable to pronounce r, and the slang sense “anus”.^[15] In Brazil it is also an informal word for cane spirit, and in northern Portugal a part of the axle of the ox-cart.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 14th century – Houaiss's first, queried, record, pevidas.^[2]
• 15th century – peuida, the first date Cunha gives.^[3]
• 1576 – pevides in a private letter.^[16]
• 1606 – the spelling pivide.^[2]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes pevide, not pivida.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flat seed of melons, pumpkins and other fleshy fruits: Guardou as pevides da abóbora para semear.^[2][14][17]
2. (agriculture) A variety of pear (pera).^[2]
3. (Brazil, informal) Sugar-cane spirit, cachaça.^[2][1]
4. A soup pasta shaped like a melon or pumpkin seed.^[2][17]
5. (veterinary) pip, a film on the tongue of hens and other birds that stops them drinking.^[2][6]
6. (pathology) A speech defect that makes it hard or impossible to pronounce r.^[2][14]
7. The charred end of a wick, morrão.^[2][14]
8. (informal, vulgar) The anus.^[2][17]
9. (northern Portugal) The part of the axle of an ox-cart between the hub and the joint.^[5]

Word family

• espevitar
• espevitado

Related words

• pituíta
• Latin pītuīta
• Galician pebida
• Spanish pepita

Usage notes

Laurear a pevide is an informal European phrase for strolling about with nothing to do.^[17]

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 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. pevide
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pevide
4. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pevide
5. ^ a b c 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. pevide
6. ^ 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. pevide
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pevide
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. pituita
9. ^ a b c d Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 396
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6549
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. pépie
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pevide
14. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pevide
15. ^ 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. pevide
16. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. pevide
17. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pevide