riba

Forms

riba f (plural ribas)^[1] Houaiss records the 14th-century spelling rryba and riva in 1624–1649.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rīpa (“bank of a river”), written Old Galician-Portuguese riba in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][4]

The same Latin word is Galician riba, Spanish riba, Catalan riba, French rive, Italian ripa and Romanian râpă.^[5][1][6] The adverbial use “above” is shared with Galician, and Spanish arriba “up” is formed on the same Latin noun.^[7][8]

The Latin noun goes back to *reipā and Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp-eh₂ (“steep slope”); de Vaan compares Ancient Greek ἐρείπω (ereípō, “to throw down”) and Old Norse rífa (“to tear down”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of 976 and 977 already write the Romance form, for example in riba de ille riuulo “on the bank of that stream”, and the word appears in a place name in 1220.^[4] In Galician-Portuguese verse it means the bank of a river or the shore of the sea: the Cantigas de Santa Maria have na riba do mar “on the seashore” and na riba do rio Limia “on the bank of the river Lima”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Viterbo explains that from the 8th to the 15th century riba meant not only the bank of a river but all the land above it that drained into it, as in the regional names Riba Douro and Riba Côa; he derives the verb arribar “to put in to shore” from it.^[10] Barbosa (1611) glosses it as “slope” and already has de riba “from above”.^[11] Bluteau (1712–1728) and Morais (1789) define it as a small hill or raised ground, and Vieira calls that sense antiquated.^[12][13][14]

In popular speech the word came to mean “the upper part, the top”, and in the phrases em riba de and de riba it is used like cima.^[15][2][3] This use is recorded in Trás-os-Montes, in Galicia and in rural Brazilian speech.^[16][17][18] In Brazil riba is also an animal-driven mill for husking coffee.^[2][19]

Timeline

• 976 – a Latin charter writes in riba de fontano.^[4]
• 1070 – a royal donation names the district of Riba Douro.^[10]
• 13th century – first records in Galician-Portuguese, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][4]
• 14th century – the spelling rryba.^[2]
• c. 1430 – riba in the Horto do Esposo.^[20]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists riba and de riba “from above”.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira marks the sense “small hill” as antiquated.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A high, steep river bank; ribanceira, arriba.^[2][15][1]
2. A small rise overlooking a river.^[2][21]
3. A ravine; the same as barranco.^[2]
4. (informal) A fine for an offence.^[2]
5. (Brazil) An animal-driven mill for husking coffee.^[2][15][22]
6. (popular) The upper part; the top.^[15][18]

Adverb

1. (popular, regional) above, on top: em riba “on top”, de riba “from above”.^[22][23][1]

Related words

• ribeira
• ribanceira
• arriba
• arribar
• Latin rīpa
• Galician riba

Usage notes

The phrases em riba de “on top of”, de riba “from above” and pra riba de “at, against” are informal;^[1] Houaiss also records à riba “beside” and ainda em riba “on top of that, besides”.^[2][24]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. riba
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. riba
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. riba
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7338
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. s.v. riba
7. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. riba
8. ^ 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. arriba
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 288
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. riba
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. riba
13. ^ 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, 347
14. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 294
15. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. riba
16. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. riba
17. ^ 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. riba
18. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. riba
19. ^ 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. riba
20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. riba
21. ^ 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. riba
22. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. riba
23. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8114
24. ^ 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. riba