pinha

Forms

pinha f (plural pinhas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pīnea (“pine cone”), short for nux pīnea (“pine nut”), from pīneus (“of pine”).^[2][3][1][4] The adjective is a derivative of pīnus (“pine”).^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician piña, Spanish piña, Catalan pinya, Occitan pinha and Italian pigna.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the sense “cluster or crowd of things or people” to 1553, and Cunha dates the word to the 16th century, in the sense “fruit of the pine”.^[2][3] Morais quotes soldados juntos numa pinha “soldiers packed together in a cluster” from Fernão Mendes Pinto.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) renders the word by Latin nucamentum, and Bluteau describes the cone that holds the pine nuts.^[7][8] In Brazil the name was given to the sugar apple and other fruits of the custard-apple family, whose scaly rind looks like a pine cone;^[2][4][9] Houaiss dates this sense to 1789, the year Morais describes it as a Brazilian fruit with a delicious white pulp.^[2][4][9] Other senses follow the shape: ornaments in the form of a pine cone on balustrades and gates, a knot at the end of a rope at sea, a pattern embroidered on stockings.^[2][10] In São Tomé it is a bunch of fruit, such as bananas.^[2]

Timeline

• 1132 – a Latin charter writes pinnam.^[2]
• 1553 – first record, in the sense “cluster, crowd”.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists pinha.^[7]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it by nux pinea, conus and strobilus.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records the Brazilian fruit;^[9][2] Houaiss's date for that sense.^[9][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pine cone, the cone of pines and other conifers.^[2][12][10]
2. (Brazil) The sugar apple (Annona squamosa), fruta-de-conde, and other trees and fruits of the custard-apple family.^[2][12][13]
3. Any object shaped like a pine cone, especially an ornament crowning a balustrade or gate.^[2][10]
4. A cluster or crowd of things or people: uma pinha de curiosos à porta.^[2][12][13]
5. (São Tomé and Príncipe) A bunch of fruits growing close together.^[2]
6. A pattern embroidered on the sides of stockings.^[2][10]
7. (nautical) A knot worked at the end of a rope.^[2][13]
8. (informal) The head.^[13]

Word family

• apinhar
• fruta-pinha

Related words

• pinhão
• pinheiro
• pinho
• Latin pīnea
• Spanish piña

Usage notes

À pinha means packed full: o comboio ia à pinha.^[13][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. pinha
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pinho
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pinha
5. ^ a b 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. piña
6. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 452
7. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pinha
8. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pinha
9. ^ a b c d 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, 203
10. ^ a b c d e 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. pinha
11. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pinha
12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pinha
13. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pinha