sola

Forms

sola f (plural solas)^[1] Houaiss records the plural spellings solas and sollas in the 14th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sola, the Vulgar Latin form that took the place of classical Latin solea (“sandal”), and is written Old Galician-Portuguese sola in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes, following Meyer-Lübke, suggests that the Vulgar Latin form was made from the plural of the classical word.^[5][6] The Latin noun is derived from solum (“bottom, base; ground”).^[7][1]

The -l- kept between vowels is a phonetic difficulty, as Nascentes notes, and he thinks the word may have come from Spanish.^[8][5] Cortesão derived it from Spanish.^[8][5] The Portuguese Wiktionary takes it through Old Occitan sola instead.^[9] The regular Portuguese outcome of classical solea is solha, recorded from the 13th century for a coat of mail plated with steel and for a kind of sandal.^[3][10][11]

The same Vulgar Latin form is Galician sola, Spanish suela and Italian suola.^[1][12] The classical word also gave French seuil (“threshold”) and Italian soglia, with a change of meaning.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 14th century, from the plurals solas and sollas.^[13] Cunha also gives the 14th century.^[2][3] The first sense in Houaiss, now obsolete, is “sandal”, the sense of the Latin word.^[2] Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 renders it by solum bubulum, an ox-hide sole.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Folqman (1755) separates the sole of the foot, the sole of a shoe, and the whole hide from which soles are cut.^[14] Morais (1789) puts the tanned ox-hide first, and records pôr solas “to sole shoes”, for which he refers to the verb solar.^[15] Cunha dates that verb solar to 1844.^[3]

Silva Bastos (1912) adds the pole by which a harrow or plough is pulled, and in Rio de Janeiro a kind of tapioca beiju.^[16] In Brazilian football sola is a foul in which a player catches an opponent with the sole of his boot, and Brazilian slang also uses the word for a knife or other cutting weapon.^[4][17] In Portugal it can also mean ox tripe.^[18]

Timeline

• 14th century – solas and sollas, Houaiss's first record.^[2]
• c. 1525 – sola in the Memorial da Infanta Santa Joana.^[19]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists sola.^[13]
• 1755 – Folqman distinguishes the sole of the foot, of a shoe, and the hide.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais records pôr solas “to sole”.^[15]
• 1836 – first record of solado.^[3]
• 1844 – first record of the verb solar “to put soles on”.^[3]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos records the plough pole and the tapioca cake of Rio de Janeiro.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sole of a shoe or boot, the part that rests on the ground, made of leather, rubber or another material: As solas destas botas já estão gastas.^[2][4][1]
2. Thick tanned ox-hide prepared for shoes, bags and other goods; leather.^[2][4][3]
3. (figurative) The sole of the foot.^[4][20][1]
4. The pole by which a harrow or plough is pulled; in Portugal a regional word.^[4][20]
5. (Brazil, football) A foul in which a player hits an opponent with the sole of his boot.^[4][17]
6. (Brazil, Rio de Janeiro) A kind of beiju made of tapioca.^[4][16]
7. (Portugal) Ox tripe.^[18]

Word family

• entressola
• solado

Related words

• solha
• solo
• Latin solea
• Galician sola
• Spanish suela

Usage notes

Dar à sola is colloquial for “to run away”.^[18][21] In Brazilian football, entrar de sola is to tackle with the sole of the boot.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sola
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. sola
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sola
5. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 475
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8064
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. solea
8. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sola
9. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. sola
10. ^ 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. solla
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. solea
12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *sola
13. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sola
14. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sola
15. ^ 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, 413
16. ^ a b c Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. sola
17. ^ 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. sola
18. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8593
19. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sola
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sola
21. ^ 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. sola