sogro

Forms

sogro m (plural sogros, feminine sogra, feminine plural sogras, metaphonic)^[1] The feminine sogra has an open /ɔ/, while the masculine singular and plural have a closed /o/.^[1][2] The 14th century also wrote ssogro.^[3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[3] Houaiss reports the view of Cunha and Machado that it is a formation from Portuguese sogra (“mother-in-law”), and notes that the dates do not contradict it: the feminine is recorded long before the masculine.^[3] The Aurélio holds the same view, explaining it by the great part the mother-in-law played in family life.^[5] The feminine continues socra, which replaced classical Latin socrus (“mother-in-law”).^[6][4]

Others take the masculine straight from Latin.^[4][1][7] Nascentes derives it from *socru, a syncopated form of the accusative of Latin socer (“father-in-law”), current after the word for “mother-in-law” had changed its form.^[7][3] The DDGM and Wiktionary derive it from a masculine that Late Latin made on the model of the feminine, and Wiktionary notes that this masculine is attested in late glosses and inscriptions from North Africa.^[4][1] The REW lists the Portuguese word among the Romance words from these late forms.^[8]

The same late forms gave Galician sogro, Spanish suegro, Catalan sogre, Occitan sògre and Romanian socru.^[8][1] The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *swekuros and Proto-Indo-European *swéḱuros (“father-in-law”), the source also of Ancient Greek ἑκυρός (hekurós, “father-in-law”), while the word for “mother-in-law” continues the feminine *sweḱrúh₂ (“mother-in-law”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The feminine appears first, inside Latin charters: de parte de mea sogra “on my mother-in-law's side” in 1094, and mea socra Aragunti in 1108.^[4][3] A charter of 1113 has the masculine in Latin dress, quod fuit de socrum meum “which belonged to my father-in-law”.^[4][3] In Galician-Portuguese texts the masculine is found in the 14th century: the Crónica de 1344 has seu sogro “his father-in-law”, and the Miragres de Santiago despois da morte do sogro “after the death of the father-in-law”.^[4][4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has not changed: the father of one's husband or wife, as Cardoso already glosses it with Latin socer.^[10][3] The plural sogros also names the couple, father- and mother-in-law together.^[3][11] Bluteau collects several proverbs about the father-in-law, such as Estende-se como villão em casa de seu sogro “he sprawls like a peasant in his father-in-law's house”.^[12]

Timeline

• 1094 – sogra in a Latin charter.^[4][3]
• 1113 – socrum “father-in-law” in a Latin charter.^[4][3]
• 13th century – sogra in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][6]
• 1344 – seu sogro in the Crónica de 1344.^[4]
• 14th century – the spelling ssogro.^[3]
• 1391 – sogro.^[3]
• c. 1430 – sogro in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses sogro with Latin socer.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau collects proverbs about the father-in-law.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. father-in-law, the father of one's husband or wife: O meu sogro vem jantar no domingo.^[3][5][1]
2. (in the plural) One's parents-in-law, the father- and mother-in-law together.^[3][11]

Related words

• genro
• nora
• Latin socer
• Galician sogro
• Spanish suegro

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sogro
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sogro
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. sogro
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sogro
6. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sogra
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sogro
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8054
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sogro
11. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8592
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. sogro
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sogro