rim

Forms

rim m (plural rins)^[1] The oldest texts write the plural rees.^[2] Cunha records rrem in the 13th century and rril in the 14th, and Houaiss has ril in 1304.^[2][3] Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 heads the word Rim and gives ril as another form.^[4] Ril is still listed as a synonym in Portugal, and it is the Galician word for the organ.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rēnēs (“kidneys”), a Latin noun used almost only in the plural.^[2][3][7][8] Houaiss and Nascentes trace the Portuguese singular to that plural: the old Old Galician-Portuguese rees became reis and then ⟨rens⟩ or ⟨rins⟩, and the plural ⟨rins⟩ then gave a new singular ⟨rim⟩ for one of the two organs.^[2][7] Wiktionary gives the medieval form as Old Galician-Portuguese rin.^[1] Nascentes reports that Cornu took the change to be one of /e/ to /i/, while Nunes thought that ⟨-es⟩ was pronounced ⟨-is⟩ and that the first vowel then merged with the following /i/.^[9] Beside these, the forms ril (1304) and rril are recorded in the 14th century.^[2][3]

The same Latin word is Italian rene, French rein, Old Spanish rene and Romanian rână.^[10][9][1] In Italian, French, Provençal and Portuguese it often means, especially in the plural, the loins or the small of the back.^[10] Spanish, Italian and French also have augmentative forms for the kidney: Spanish riñón, Italian rognone and French rognon.^[9]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[11][1] De Vaan reports Mastrelli's comparison with Lithuanian strėnos (“loins”) and Latvian striena (“loins”), from a *srēn- (“hip, loins”), and finds the change of sense from “loins” to “kidneys” easy to accept; he also mentions a link with the Celtic words for “kidney”, which has problems of its own.^[11] Wiktionary also lists a comparison with Ancient Greek φρήν (phrḗn, “midriff, heart”), which needs uncertain sound changes.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century, from the Inéditos de Alcobaça, a collection of texts from the monastery of Alcobaça.^[2] Nascentes cites Cortesão for the old forms rees and rreesis in the Inéditos de Alcobaça, and Cornu for rees in the Portuguese Rule of Saint Benedict.^[9] The sense there is the kidneys, a paired organ, in the plural.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the anatomical sense of the Latin, and like its Romance cognates it was used in the plural for the lower back, as it still is in informal speech.^[10][2] Bluteau derived it from a Greek verb meaning “to flow”, because the urine flows through the kidneys.^[12]

From the animal's kidneys as food the word came to mean the dish made with them.^[2][13] Builders gave it a technical sense, the part of a vault or arch that rests on the springing, recorded by Silva Bastos in 1912 and by the old Caldas Aulete.^[14][13] In Brazil it also names a kidney-shaped basin used in nursing.^[15][2] The learned words for the kidney are formed with nefr(o)- and ren(i)- instead.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – the plural rees in the Inéditos de Alcobaça.^[2][9]
• 1304 – the form ril.^[2]
• 14th century – rril.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary has Rim, aliàs ril, with the Latin ren.^[4]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the organ under rim and gives a Greek etymology.^[12]
• 1813 – first record of the learned adjective renal.^[3]
• 1874 – first record of reniforme “kidney-shaped”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) A kidney, either of the two organs in the lumbar region that filter the blood and produce urine: Ele vive só com um rim.^[2][15][1]
2. The kidney of an ox or another animal used as food, and a dish made with it.^[2][15]
3. (Brazil) A kidney-shaped basin used in nursing.^[15][2]
4. (in the plural, informal) The lower part of the back, the small of the back: Doem-me os rins.^[2][5][1]
5. (architecture, in the plural) The part of a vault or arch that rests on the impost.^[2][5]
6. (Portugal) A kidney-shaped pastry.^[1]

Related words

• renal
• reniforme
• derrengar
• Latin rēn
• Galician ril

Usage notes

Rim artificial is the dialysis machine used in medicine.^[2][13]

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 p q r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rim
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. rim
4. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rim
5. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8124
6. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. ril
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rim
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. rēn
9. ^ a b c d e f 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. rim
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7206
11. ^ a b 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. rēnēs
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. rim
13. ^ a b c 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. rim
14. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. rim
15. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rim