popa

Forms

popa f (plural popas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *puppa (“stern”), a form of Latin puppis (“stern of a ship”).^[2][1][3] The change to the first declension in ⟨-a⟩ is explained by the feminine gender of the Latin word and perhaps by the influence of its opposite prōra (“prow”).^[4][5][1][6] De Vaan finds no etymology for the Latin word.^[7]

The same word is Galician popa, Spanish popa, Catalan popa, Occitan popa and Italian poppa.^[8][4][9] Corominas notes that all of them start from a base in ⟨-a⟩, and that in French the word is less popular and suspected of being foreign.^[4] The French poupe was taken from the Genoese form in the 13th century, according to the DHLF.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, already in the sense of the after part of a ship.^[2] Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 renders it by puppis.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The nautical sense has stayed at the centre of the word, and with it came the phrases of the sailing age: Morais (1789) records vento em popa “a following wind”, used figuratively of a business that prospers, and errar de popa a proa “to be wrong from stern to bow, entirely”.^[12] Vieira (1871–1874) illustrates the word with the chronicles of the East, where junks are beached com as popas em secco “with their sterns on dry land”.^[13]

Brazilian Portuguese gave it bodily senses: informally the buttocks, and in the north-east the buck or leap of a horse, also of other animals and of people (dar a popa).^[2][3][14] The DLP and Michaelis extend it to the tail of an aircraft and, with a capital, to the southern constellation Popa (Puppis), one of the parts into which Argo was divided.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record in Portuguese, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders popa by Latin puppis.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records vento em popa and errar de popa a proa.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo's dictionary first lists popa, masculine, the Roman sacrificial assistant.^[2][17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) The stern of a boat or ship, the after part opposite the bow (proa), where the rudder is.^[2][1][18]
2. (Brazil, informal) The buttocks.^[2][3][16]
3. (north-eastern Brazil) A buck or leap of a horse; a jump of another animal or of a person.^[2][14]
4. (aviation) The tail of an aircraft.^[15]

Related words

• proa
• Latin puppis
• Spanish popa

Usage notes

De vento em popa “with a following wind” means prospering, and de popa a proa “from stern to bow” means entirely.^[15] À popa is “astern”, and also “at the right moment”.^[2] In Brazil dar uma popa is to give someone a harsh scolding.^[3]

A separate word popa /ó/, masculine, is the junior priest of the Roman cults who tended the fire and incense and led the victim to the altar; it is borrowed from Latin popa and is first listed in Figueiredo's dictionary of 1899.^[2][17][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. popa
3. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. popa
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 610
5. ^ 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. popa
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 410
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. puppis
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6855
9. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. popa
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. poupe
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. popa
12. ^ a b 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, 218
13. ^ 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, 843
14. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. popa
15. ^ a b c 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. popa
16. ^ 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. popa
17. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. popa
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. popa