salsicha

Forms

salsicha f (plural salsichas)^[1] The variant salchicha, with the first /s/ assimilated to the ch, is the older form in the records (1644) and lives on in informal use.^[2][3][1] Morais (1789) heads the word salchicha.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian salsiccia (“sausage”), from Late Latin salsīcia, the neuter plural of salsīcius (“seasoned with salt”) taken as a feminine noun, from Latin salsus (“salted”).^[2][1][5][6] Nascentes argues that the ending shows the Italian origin, since a word inherited from Latin would have ended differently in Portuguese.^[7] Vieira (1871–1874) had taken the variant salchicha from French saucisse.^[8] The Late Latin word goes back to the phrase farta salsīcia (“salted stuffing”), and Spanish salchicha also comes from Italian.^[9] The Latin adjective is the past participle of sallō (“to salt”).^[10][1]

The Italian word is recorded from 1344, and in the form saziza in the 13th century.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, of 1644, has the form salchicha and the sense “fuse”; the sausage follows in 1680.^[3] The spelling with s is in the dictionaries from 1858.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) defines the salchicha as a pig's gut filled with chopped ham and fat, salt, fennel seed and white wine.^[4] His edition of 1813 adds the artillery sense, a tarred cloth tube filled with powder that carried the fire to a mine, and the long fascine of fortification.^[12] The military senses are now obsolete.^[2][13] Today it is the thin sausage of minced meat in a narrow casing; in Rio Grande do Sul it spread in the 20th century from the areas of German settlement.^[2][14] Informally it names the dachshund or basset hound, a dog with a long body and short legs.^[2][13][1]

Timeline

• 1344 – Italian salsiccia is first recorded.^[11]
• 1644 – first Portuguese record, as salchicha “fuse”.^[3]
• 1680 – salchicha “sausage”.^[3]
• 1720 – salchichão, a large sausage, in Bluteau.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais heads the word salchicha.^[4]
• 1813 – Morais adds the artillery sense.^[12]
• 1858 – the spelling salsicha in the dictionaries.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sausage: a narrow casing filled with minced, seasoned meat, usually pork.^[2][13][1]
2. (obsolete) A fuse that carried the fire to a mine.^[2][13]
3. (informal) A dachshund or basset hound.^[2][13][1]
4. (slang) An inner tube.^[16]

Word family

• salsichão
• salsicharia

Related words

• salchicha
• sal
• Italian salsiccia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. salsicha
3. ^ a b c d Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salchicha
4. ^ a b c 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, 368
5. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. salsicha
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. salsicha
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 456
8. ^ 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, 383
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. salsiccia
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. salsus
11. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. salsiccia
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 658
13. ^ a b c d e 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. salsicha
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. salsicha
15. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salchichão
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. salsicha