Etymologically
Log in

plumagem

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word plumagem

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1300s spelt promagees More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origin
Portuguese pluma,-agem

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /pluˈma.ʒẽj̃/, [pluˈma.ʒẽɪ̯̃][1]
  • Portugal: /pluˈma.ʒɐ̃j̃/[1]

Forms

plumagem f (plural plumagens)[1] The older form had pr- for pl-: promagees in the 14th century and prumage and prumagem in the 15th.[2][3] Morais (1789) still enters prumagem as an old word for plumagem.[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese pluma + -agem, probably under the influence of French plumage.[2][1] Cunha derives it directly from the French word.[3] The French noun, from plume, is recorded from 1265 for the feathers covering a bird.[2] From 1280 it also meant a person's outward appearance.[2] The base noun is a learned word, from Latin plūma (“feather”), which de Vaan explains as a noun derived from a verb, perhaps from a root meaning “to float, fly”.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is of the 14th century, in Cunha's medieval index, spelt promagees;[2][3] Cunha too has the pru- form in the 14th century and plumagem from the 16th.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the feathers of a bird the word named the plumes worn as ornaments on helmets and headdresses, a bird's crest and the spots on its breast feathers.[6] Vieira adds a term of falconry, a kind of game bird or the colour of feathers that distinguishes it.[7] Houaiss and Aulete also record a figurative sense, “outward look”, and the familiar bater a linda plumagem or bater a bela plumagem “to run away, to leave”.[2][8]

Timeline

  • 1300s – first record, spelt promagees.[2]
  • 1400s – the forms prumage and prumagem.[2]
  • 1500s – Cunha's first record of plumagem.[3]
  • 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro glosses Plumagem with Latin cristae.[9]
  • 1789 – Morais gives the soft feathers of birds and the plumes on helmets, and lists prumagem as old.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The plumage of a bird, the feathers covering its body.[2][11][1]
  2. Feathers used as an ornament.[2][12]
  3. (figurative) Showy outward appearance.[2][8]
  • pluma
  • French plumage

Usage notes

Bater a linda plumagem and bater a bela plumagem are familiar phrases for running away or leaving.[2][8][13]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. plumagem
  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. pluma
  4. ^ 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, 261
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 459
  7. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 816
  8. ^ 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. plumagem
  9. ^ 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. plumagem
  10. ^ 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, 209
  11. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. plumagem
  12. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. plumagem
  13. ^ 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. plumagem
Cite this entry

“Plumagem.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/plumagem. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·