rédea

Forms

rédea f (plural rédeas)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote redẽa, redeea, redea and rredea, and a Galician-Portuguese treatise on horses has rrenda.^[2][3][4][5] Houaiss also notes the old form renda in 1672.^[2] Bluteau writes rêdea.^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *retina (“rein”), written Old Galician-Portuguese redẽa in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][7] The Vulgar Latin noun is formed from the verb Latin retineō (“to hold back, restrain”), itself from re- and teneō (“to hold”).^[2][3][1] The REW takes it as a noun made from the verb, or else as a back-formation from retināculum (“rein”), and Wiktionary adds that the plural of that noun was the common word for “reins”.^[8][1] The Latin noun is attested in a glossary of the 7th or 8th century.^[1] The DLP marks the etymon with a “perhaps”.^[9]

The same Latin word is Galician rédea, Spanish rienda, Catalan regna, Italian redine, Occitan retna and Old French resne, whence French rêne.^[8][1] The Spanish form is first recorded about 1140, in the poem of the Cid.^[10][11] The stressed vowel varies across Romance between open and close /e/.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cantiga 181 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (13th century) has que fogindo non avia niun redẽa tẽuda “so that in their flight no one kept hold of a rein”.^[5][4] The 14th-century chronicles use it in the same concrete sense: tornou a redea ao cavallo “he turned the horse's rein”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau describes the reins in detail and lists the riding phrases largar or dar a redea “to give a horse its head” and recolher a redea “to draw in the rein”, already with figurative uses from the preachers.^[6] Morais adds as rédeas do governo “the reins of government”, pôr rédeas ao tempo and Camões's soltar a rédea to one's thoughts.^[12] The figurative senses of command and restraint, tomar as rédeas “to take control”, are thus long established.^[2][13]

In Rio Grande do Sul the word belongs to the vocabulary of the gaucho horseman, with phrases such as bancar na rédea, to make the horse turn sharply on its hind legs.^[2][14] Zoology uses it for a larval stage of flukes.^[15][9]

Timeline

• 1253 – the forms redenis and redene, the earliest date Lorenzo's chronology takes from Machado.^[5]
• 13th century – redẽa in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[5][2]
• 14th century – redea, rredea and redeas in the chronicles.^[4][2]
• 1364 – an inventory lists Redeas de seda uerde “reins of green silk”.^[4]
• 1672 – the old form renda.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives the riding phrases with redea.^[6]
• 1789 – Morais records as rédeas do governo.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rein, the strap fixed to the bit (freio) of a riding or draught animal, which the rider holds to guide it: Puxou a rédea e o cavalo parou.^[2][13][1]
2. (figurative) A firm rule, a restraint.^[2][16]
3. (figurative) Control, direction, command: assumiu as rédeas da empresa.^[2][13][1]
4. (zoology) A larval stage of flukes (redia).^[15][9]

Related words

• reter
• retenção
• Latin retineō
• Galician rédea
• Spanish rienda

Usage notes

Common phrases are à rédea solta “unchecked, freely”, dar rédea or dar rédea larga “to give free rein”, com a rédea na mão “cautiously” and tomar as rédeas “to take charge”.^[2][17] In Rio Grande do Sul de rédea no chão means “submissive, beaten”.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rédea
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. reter
4. ^ a b c d e 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. redea
5. ^ a b c d 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. redẽa
6. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rêdea
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rédea
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7261
9. ^ a b c 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. rédea
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 12
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rienda
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, 302
13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rédea
14. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. rédea
15. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7877
16. ^ 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. rédea
17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. rédea