ranço

Forms

ranço (feminine rança, masculine plural ranços, feminine plural ranças)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rancidus (“rotten, rancid”), first recorded as the feminine adjective Old Galician-Portuguese rança.^[2][3][1][4] Cunha and Nascentes explain the noun as the Latin adjective used as a noun; according to Nascentes the adjective rançoso was then formed to take its place.^[3][5] Houaiss calls it the popular form beside the learned râncido.^[2][1]

The same Latin word is Galician rancio, Spanish rancio, Catalan ranci, Italian rancido and Romanian rânced.^[6][7] Meyer-Lübke thought that all of them except the Romanian might be learned.^[6][7] The French rance was borrowed from Latin before 1350.^[8]

The Latin adjective is formed on ranceō (“to be rotten”) with the suffix -idus.^[9][1] The verb is very rare, found once as a participle in Lucretius and in the glosses.^[8] rancor “hatred” comes from the Late Latin noun of the same root, which meant “rancidness”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology finds the adjective in cantiga 9 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, the story of an image that exudes oil: saya / dela, mas non rança, / grossain “there came from it a grease, but not a rancid one”.^[4] Houaiss's 13th-century date is for this adjective.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun appears in the dictionaries: Cardoso (1569) renders it by the Latin ranciditas, and Barbosa (1611) by rancor.^[10][11] Houaiss records a spelling renço in 1611 and ranço in 1720.^[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) says it of bacon and other meats which, kept too long, shut up or uncovered, begin to go bad and take a sourish taste and a bad smell.^[12]

From the taste and smell of stale fat it came to mean a musty smell and, figuratively, an old-fashioned character; the original Caldas Aulete quotes Castilho on writing com esse ranço “with that staleness”.^[2][13] In the Alentejo it means “hatred, rancour”, and a dialect survey from the north of Portugal records já me metes ranço “you disgust me”.^[2][14][15] In Brazil it is also an unpleasant person, and in recent slang a strong dislike.^{[16][14][1][17]}

Timeline

• 13th century, second half – the Cantigas de Santa Maria have the adjective rança.^[4][2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary has the noun, rendered ranciditas.^[10]
• 1611 – the spelling renço.^[2] Barbosa renders ranço by rancor.^[2][11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes ranço in bacon and meat.^[12]
• 1720 – the spelling ranço.^[2]
• 1813 – first record of rançoso.^[3]
• 1858 – first record of the verb rançar.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. rancidity: the change that air causes in fats, giving them a sharp taste and a strong, unpleasant smell: A manteiga ganhou ranço.^{[2][14][16][1]}
2. A musty smell, as of damp or stale things; mofo, bafio.^[2][14][16]
3. (figurative) Something old-fashioned or obsolete; an antiquated character.^[2][14][16]
4. (Alentejo) Hatred, rancor.^[2][14][13]
5. (Brazil, figurative) An unpleasant, disagreeable person.^[16][14]
6. (Brazil, slang) A strong aversion to someone or something.^[1][17]

Adjective

1. rancid; rançoso.^{[2][14][16][1]}

Word family

• rançar
• rançoso

Related words

• râncido
• rancor
• rancoroso
• Latin rancidus
• Spanish rancio

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ranço
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. ranço
4. ^ a b c 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. ranço
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ranço
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. rancidus
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. rancidus
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rance
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rancidus
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ranço
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ranço
12. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ranço
13. ^ 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. ranço
14. ^ 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. ranço
15. ^ 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. ranço
16. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ranço
17. ^ a b Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. ranço