poio

Forms

poio m (plural poios)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin podium (“raised base; balcony; height”), by the popular route, written Old Galician-Portuguese poyo in the oldest records.^[2][1][3] Houaiss lists the Latin senses: the low wall round the arena of an amphitheatre, on which the seats stood; a balcony; a lookout or hillock.^[2] In Medieval Latin the word also meant “hill” and “castle on a hill”.^[4] The learned form of the same word is pódio.^[2][1]

The same Latin word is Galician poio and Spanish poyo “stone bench”, while the sense “height” lives on in Italian poggio, French puy and Catalan puig.^[5][6][7] The Spanish word appears first in the Cantar de mio Cid, and there only as “rise in the ground”, a sense otherwise Aragonese.^[8]

The Latin word was borrowed from Ancient Greek πόδιον (pódion, “little foot; base”), a diminutive of πούς (poús, “foot”).^[9][2][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1130 with the spelling poyo, comes from Machado's records.^[2] The oldest vernacular use in the glossaries is in a satirical cantiga of Johan Baveca, where someone tornou-se do poio de Roldan “turned back from Roland's hill” after passing through Roncesvalles, so the word there means “hill, mount”.^[10][11] The derivative poial is found in the 14th century as poyaes.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The sense of today is a fixed stone bench against the wall by the door of a house, the same as poial.^[2][13][14] In Galicia it is also the stone set at the door of old inns for mounting a horse.^[6] The sense “hill” has become rare.^[14][15][1]

Popular speech in Portugal uses poio for a heap of excrement.^[13][16] In Madeira it names the terraces cut into the hillsides for farming.^[13][16] The original Caldas Aulete records a Minho sense “flat loaf of bread”, and the DLP a regional “large loaf”.^[17][13] Dialect surveys record “lazy person”, a flat ledge among steep crags, and a rounded outcrop of basalt.^[18] As a place name in Portugal it keeps the sense “hill”, according to Nascentes, who follows Piel.^[19]

Timeline

• 1130 – Houaiss's first date, spelt poyo.^[2]
• 14th century – poyaes, plural of the derivative poial.^[12]
• Before 1635 – poyo.^[2]
• 1720 – the spelling poio.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais refers poio to poya and poyal.^[20]
• 1813 – Cunha's first record, spelt poyo.^[21]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira refers poio to poyo.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fixed stone bench against the wall beside the door of a house; a poial: As vizinhas sentavam-se no poio ao fim da tarde.^{[2][13][14][1]}
2. (rare) A hill, hillock.^[14][15][1]
3. (Portugal, popular) A heap of excrement.^[13][16][14]
4. (Madeira) A terrace cut into a hillside for cultivation.^[13][16][14]
5. (regional) A large, flat loaf of bread.^[13][17]

Word family

• poial

Related words

• apoiar
• apoio
• pódio
• poia
• Latin podium
• Galician poio
• Spanish poyo

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 j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. poio
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. poio
4. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. podium
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. podium
6. ^ a b Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. poio
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. puy
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 628
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. podium
10. ^ 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. poio
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. poio
12. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. poial
13. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. poio
14. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. poio
15. ^ 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. poio
16. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7288
17. ^ a b 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. poio
18. ^ 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. poio
19. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. poio
20. ^ 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, 212
21. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. poio
22. ^ 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, 825