salmoura

Forms

salmoura f (plural salmouras)^[1] The variant salmoira is recorded in a private letter of 1672 and in Morais's dictionary of 1813;^[2][3][1] salmoeira is another variant.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin salimuria (“brine”), formed from sāl (“salt”) and muria (“brine”), and written Old Galician-Portuguese salmoira in the older language.^[1][4][5] Houaiss calls the Latin word medieval and suggests that it may be modelled on Ancient Greek ἁλμυρίς (halmurís, “salt humour, brine”), from ἁλμυρός (halmurós, “salty”).^[6] Nascentes takes it from the Greek word through the Late Latin form salemuria.^[7] Bluteau had already offered both views in 1712: a compound of the Latin words for salt and brine, or a word from the Greek.^[8] Nascentes explains the vowel of the Portuguese word: the ⟨i⟩ of the Latin ending moved into the syllable before it, giving the older form, and ⟨oi⟩ then became ⟨ou⟩.^[9]

The same compound is Galician salmoira, Spanish salmuera, Italian salamoia, Catalan salmorra and French saumure.^[1][10] Corominas finds the simple moyra in a Spanish document of 987.^[11] The origin of the Latin word for brine is unknown: it may be a fishermen's word taken from the same Greek word.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 gives salmoura as the Portuguese for Latin muria “brine”.^[13] Houaiss's first text record is of 1602, with the sense of the moist salt, or the liquid itself, that runs from salted fish or meat.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa in 1611 glosses it as “melted salt”, and Bluteau defines it as dissolved salt together with the juice of salted meat or fish.^[14][8] Bluteau also records a figurative use, a beating or a harsh reprimand, which Morais repeats in 1789.^[8][15] Houaiss dates the sense “salt water for preserving meat, fish or vegetables” to 1858, and Vieira adds the brine for curing olives.^[6][16] The word also came to name the vessel in which the food is kept and the process of preserving in salt.^[6][4]

In southern Brazil salt water is also used as a remedy for wounds and mouth complaints under this name.^[17] In modern technical use it is the salty waste water left by the desalination of sea water.^[1]

Timeline

• 1569 – Cardoso translates salmoura as Latin muria.^[13]
• 1602 – Houaiss's first record in a text.^[6]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses it as “melted salt”.^[14]
• 1672 – the spelling salmoira in a private letter.^[2]
• 1681 – first record of salmourar.^[18]
• 1712 – Bluteau records the figurative sense “beating, reprimand”.^[8]
• 1734 – Feijó gives salmoira beside salmoura.^[19]
• 1858 – first date of the sense “brine for preserving food”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. brine: water saturated with salt, used to preserve meat, fish, olives or vegetables.^{[6][20][4][1]}
2. The moist salt, or the liquid itself, that runs from salted fish or meat.^[6][20][1]
3. A vessel in which food is kept in brine.^[6][21][1]
4. The preserving of food in salt; salting (salga).^[6][4][1]
5. The salty waste water left by the desalination of sea water.^[1]

Word family

• salmourar

Related words

• sal
• salgação
• salgar
• Spanish salmuera
• Galician salmoira

Usage notes

Estar de salmoura or estar em salmoura means “to be pickled”, and figuratively “to be packed tight, like sardines in a tin”;^[22][21] ter uma salmoura no inferno “to have a brine in hell” means to deserve hell.^[22][21]

A Portuguese regional glossary in the TLPGP describes salmoura as the brine used mainly for preserving fish, weaker than moura.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. salmoura
3. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salmoira
4. ^ a b c d 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. salmoura
5. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8257
6. ^ 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. salmoura
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. salmoura
8. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salmoura
9. ^ 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. salmoura
10. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. salmoira
11. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 130
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. muria
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salmoura
14. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salmoura
15. ^ 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, 369
16. ^ 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, 385
17. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. salmoura
18. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salmourar
19. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salmoura
20. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. salmoura
21. ^ 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. salmoura
22. ^ 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. salmoura
23. ^ 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. salmoura