piolho

Forms

piolho m (plural piolhos)^[1] Old Portuguese wrote peolho in the 14th century, then piolho and pyolhos in the 15th.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin peduclus, from peduculus, a form of pēdīculus (“louse”), the diminutive of pēdis (“louse”).^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes notes that the Latin diminutive suffix was exchanged in the popular form.^[5] The same Latin word is Galician piollo, Spanish piojo, Catalan poll, French pou, Italian pidocchio and Romanian păduche.^[1][6]

De Vaan reconstructs *pezd- and a Proto-Indo-European word for an annoying insect, and compares an Avestan name of an insect that harms horses.^[7] Wiktionary also gives the root as *pezd-, but calls the origin of the Latin noun uncertain.^[1] Aurélio connects the diminutive with pēs (“foot”), a view Wiktionary records as one of two explanations.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha's earliest record is peolho in the Horto do Esposo, which he dates to the 14th century.^[3] Houaiss also dates the plural peolhos to the 14th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso, Barbosa and Pereira render the word by Latin pediculus.^[9][10][11] Bluteau calls the louse the companion of poverty and the lasting guest of beggars.^[12] Morais's edition of 1813 notes that in Brazil horses suffer from lice, and records the phrase meter-se como piolho em costura “to get in like a louse in a seam”, of someone who intrudes where he is not wanted.^[13]

The name was extended to the plant lice, to mites and other small pests, and in Brazil to a tree and to the rêmora, a fish that clings to sharks.^[2][14][15] The printers use it for a small misprint, the shoemakers for a tiny nail, and in the Azores chuva de piolho is a fine drizzling mist.^[8][16][14]

Timeline

• 14th century – peolho in the Horto do Esposo.^[3]
• 15th century – the spellings piolho and pyolhos.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders piolho by Latin pediculus.^[9]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds erva piolheira, the plant stavesacre.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as an insect bred on the head and body of unclean people.^[17]
• 1813 – meter-se como piolho em costura.^[13]
• 1858 – first record of piolhento.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. louse: any of the wingless insects that live as parasites on mammals and birds, especially the head louse and the body louse of humans.^[2][8][1]
2. (Brazil) A loose name for various mites and small insect pests of plants and poultry; pulgão.^[2][18]
3. (Pernambuco) The remora, rêmora.^[2][15]
4. (Brazil) A tree of the genus Casearia.^[2][16]
5. (printing) A small misprint missed in proofreading.^[8][16]
6. A small tack used by shoemakers.^[19][16]
7. (Azores) fog, fine mist.^[1][14]

Word family

• piolhento
• piolhoso
• piolheira
• espiolhar
• piolho-da-cabeça
• piolho-de-cobra

Related words

• piolhada
• piolhagem
• piolheiro
• piolhice
• Latin pēdīculus
• Galician piollo
• Spanish piojo

Usage notes

Meter-se como piolho em costura means to turn up everywhere uninvited.^[20][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. piolho
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. piolho
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. piolho
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 399
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. piojo
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. piolho
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. piolho
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. piolho
11. ^ 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. piolho
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. piolho
13. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 454
14. ^ a b c 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. piolho
15. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. piolho
16. ^ a b c d 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. piolho
17. ^ 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, 204
18. ^ 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. piolho
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. piolho
20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7199