sebo

Forms

sebo m (plural sebos)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote sevo, and the 15th century seuo;^[2][3] sebo and cebo appear about 1720.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712–1728) enters the word under cebo.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sēbum (“tallow, suet”), written Old Galician-Portuguese sevo in the oldest texts.^[2][3][5][1] Latin also had the spelling sēvum, and Porto Editora gives both as the source.^[6][7]

The same Latin word is Galician sebo, Spanish sebo, Catalan sèu, French suif and Italian sego.^[1][8] Old Spanish had sevo too, from the middle of the 13th century.^[9] The French word adds an /f/ by analogy, from older seu.^[10]

Wiktionary derives the Latin word from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out”), the root it also gives for Germanic *saipǭ (“soap”).^[1] De Vaan is doubtful: a /b/ is very rare in Proto-Indo-European roots and the meaning of the Latin word need not have anything to do with dripping, so he leaves it without an etymology.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date sevo to the 13th century.^[2][3] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a pilgrim brings candles de çera, ca non de sevo “of wax, not of tallow”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant animal fat used for candles, soap and grease, as in the cantiga above;^[12][13] Morais (1813) still defines it as the fat of oxen and sheep used for candles and soap.^[12][13] From there it came to mean any greasy layer, the grime on a collar, and in medicine the secretion of the skin's glands.^[2][14]

In Brazil sebo is also a shop that buys and sells second-hand books, and now records and magazines as well.^[2][14][1] Wiktionary dates this sense to the middle of the 20th century and calls its origin unknown, suggesting a transfer from the tallow candles of such shops or from the grime that covers old books, a development like that of sebenta “lecture notes”.^[1] In Pernambuco the shop is also called caga-sebo, a name otherwise given to several small birds.^[15][16][17]

Other Brazilian senses are “courtship” and “a conceited, tiresome person”, and the word is used as an interjection of annoyance, sebo! or ora sebo!.^[2][14] Silva Bastos already recorded the interjection in 1912.^[18]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, spelt sevo; the Cantigas de Santa Maria contrast candles of wax and of tallow.^[2][3][12]
• 15th century – the spelling seuo.^[2]
• 1720 – the spellings sebo and cebo.^[2]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as the fat of cattle and sheep for candles and soap; first record of seboso.^[13][3]
• 1883 – first record of sebenta.^[3]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos records the interjection sebo!.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. tallow, suet: hard fat from the body of cattle, sheep and other ruminants.^[2][14][1]
2. (anatomy) sebum, the oily secretion of the sebaceous glands.^[2][7][1]
3. A dirty greasy layer, grime: O colarinho estava cheio de sebo.^[2][19][1]
4. (Brazil) A second-hand bookshop: Comprei o romance num sebo do centro.^[2][14][1]
5. (Brazil, informal) Courtship, flirting.^[2][14]
6. (Brazil, informal) A conceited, tiresome person.^[2]

Interjection

1. An exclamation of annoyance or disappointment: Ora sebo!^[2][19]

Word family

• ensebar
• ensebado
• sebenta
• sebento
• seboso
• sebite
• caga-sebo

Related words

• sebáceo
• seborreia
• Latin sēbum
• Spanish sebo

Usage notes

Passar or pôr sebo nas canelas “to put tallow on one's shins” means to run away fast;^[2][19][7] metido a sebo (Brazil) is said of someone who acts more important than he is;^[2][19][7] limpar o sebo a alguém means to give someone a beating.^[2][19][7] An old proverb runs quando o gosto é sobejo, mais custa a mecha que o sebo “when the pleasure is too great, the wick costs more than the tallow”.^[4][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sebo
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sebo
4. ^ 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. sebo
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sebo
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sēbum
7. ^ a b c d e Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8342
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sebum
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 184
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. suif
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d 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. sevo
13. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 674
14. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sebo
15. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. caga-sebo
16. ^ 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. caga-sebo
17. ^ 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. caga-sebo
18. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. sebo
19. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sebo
20. ^ 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, 430