sobrancelha

Forms

sobrancelha f (plural sobrancelhas)^[1] Houaiss records sobrencellas in the 13th century, sobrancelhas in the 14th and sobrãcelhas in the 15th.^[2] Aurélio names the old form sobrencelha.^[3] Wiktionary also lists the variants sombrancelha and sombracelha.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin supercilia (“eyebrows”), the plural of the Latin word for “eyebrow”, through the old form Old Galician-Portuguese sobrencelha.^[2][4][3][1] The nasal of the second syllable has no Latin source and has been explained in several ways: Cornu found it unclear, Cortesão derived it from a phrase super incilia, and Nascentes suggested the influence of the preposition em, as if the word were made of sobre, em and celha.^[5][4] Wiktionary compares the similar nasal in Romansh survantscheglia and in Romanian sprânceană.^[1]

The same Latin word is French sourcil, and Italian cipiglio “scowl”; the Romanian word is a blend with gena (“cheek”).^[6] Spanish sobreceja names the part of the forehead just above the eyebrows.^[5]

The Latin word is formed with super- (“above”) and cilium (“eyelid”).^[1] The OLD suggests the root of occulō (“to hide”) instead and takes the second part as a back-formation from the compound.^[7] Lewis and Short connect the root with cēlō (“to hide”) and Ancient Greek καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”).^[8]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries of the 16th and 17th centuries simply render it with Latin supercilium.^[9][10][11] Bluteau explains the word as if it meant “over the cilium” and describes the hairs as a guard against too much light.^[12] Morais (1789) records fazer a sobrancelha, to pluck the hairs so that the brow is thin and arched.^[13] Houaiss gives first the arched ridge above the eye socket, and by metonymy the hairs on it.^[2] In some Brazilian dialect surveys the word names the eyelid.^[14]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, as the plural sobrencellas.^[2]
• 14th century – the spelling sobrancelhas.^[2]
• 15th century – sobrãcelhas, with a tilde for the nasal.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses it supercilium.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the eyebrows and their muscles.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais records fazer a sobrancelha.^[13]
• 1817 – a private letter writes sebrançelhas.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The arched ridge above each eye socket, on which the hairs grow.^[2][16]
2. eyebrow: the arch of hairs over each eye: Tinha as sobrancelhas grossas e escuras.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• supercílio
• sobrolho
• cílio
• Latin supercilium
• Spanish ceja

Usage notes

Franzir or carregar as sobrancelhas “to knit the brows” means to show displeasure.^[17][18] In Portugal the plucking of the eyebrows is arranjar as sobrancelhas, elsewhere fazer as sobrancelhas.^[18]

Priberam allows both /ɐ/ and /e/ in the stressed syllable, and Wiktionary gives /ɐ/ for Lisbon and /e/ for Brazil and northern Portugal.^[19][1]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sobrancelha
3. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sobrancelha
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sobrancelha
5. ^ a b 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. sobrancelha
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8459
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. supercilium
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. supercilium
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sobrancelha
10. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sobrancelha
11. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sobrancelha
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. sobrancelha
13. ^ a b 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, 407
14. ^ 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. sobrancelha
15. ^ 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. sobrancelha
16. ^ 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. sobrancelha
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. sobrancelha
18. ^ 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. sobrancelha
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sobrancelha