sopa

Forms

sopa f (plural sopas)^[1]

Etymology

Houaiss calls the origin disputed.^[2] In the view of Wiktionary, Nascentes and Aurélio it is inherited from Late Latin suppa (“bread soaked in liquid”), which is from Proto-Germanic *supô.^[1][3][4] Corominas derives the Ibero-Romance word directly from the Germanic noun, recorded from the 6th century.^[2][5] Cunha, followed by the dictionary of the Lisbon Academy and earlier by Vieira, sees a borrowing of French soupe, itself from a Frankish *suppa.^[6][7][8]

The same Late Latin word gave Galician sopa, Spanish sopa, Catalan sopa, Occitan sopa and Italian zuppa, as well as the French word.^[9][1] The Germanic noun is of the family of súpa (“to sip”) and sūfan (“to drink, sup”);^[10][11][12] Feist and Corominas connect it, less certainly, with Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐍀𐍉𐌽 (supōn, “to season”).^[10][11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[2][6] The Regimento proveitoso contra a pestenença of about 1496 uses it.^[13] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders it with Latin turunda.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a piece of bread soaked in broth, milk or wine: Folqman in 1755 renders it as bread moistened with broth, with sopa de mel and sopa de leite, and Morais in 1789 still defines it as bread soaked in broth or milk.^[15][16] Corominas describes the same path in Spanish, from the soaked bread to sopas and then to any liquid dish.^[5] The dish of broth with meat, vegetables or pasta, served as the first course, is the main sense in the modern dictionaries.^[2][4]

Morais records bêbado como uma sopa “very drunk” and estar feito uma sopa “to be soaking wet”, and Vieira the proverb caiu-lhe a sopa no mel.^[16][8] The plural sopas came to mean one's daily food and keep.^[2] Informally a sopa is something very easy.^[2][4] In Portugal it is also a timid, spineless person or, pejoratively, a maid.^[2] In north-eastern Brazil it is still used in inland towns for a minibus.^[17][4] Macanese has sopa, and Houaiss records sopa de fitas, a noodle soup of Macau.^[1][2]

Timeline

• 6th century – Germanic suppa is recorded in Latin texts.^[5]
• 13th century – first record in Portuguese.^[2][6]
• c. 1496 – the Regimento proveitoso contra a pestenença.^[13]
• 16th century – first records of ensopar and ensopado.^[6]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary lists sopa.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as bread soaked in broth or milk.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. soup: a liquid dish of broth cooked with meat, fish, vegetables, pasta or grains: Fiz uma sopa de feijão para o jantar.^[2][4][1]
2. A piece of bread sopped in broth, milk or another liquid.^[2][4]
3. Anything soaking wet: Cheguei a casa feito uma sopa.^[2][4]
4. (informal) Something very easy to do or win.^[2][4]
5. (in the plural) Food, daily keep: ganhar para as sopas.^[2]
6. (Brazil, mining) Gravel cemented into rock.^[2][4]
7. (north-eastern Brazil) A country bus.^[2][17]
8. (Portugal, informal) A timid, spineless person;^[2] (pejorative) a maidservant.^[2]

Word family

• ensopar
• ensopado
• sopeira

Related words

• French soupe
• Spanish sopa
• Italian zuppa

Usage notes

Cair como a sopa no mel is said of something that happens just as one wished.^[18][19] Estar às sopas de alguém is to live on someone's charity.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sopa
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sopa
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. sopa
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sopa
6. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sopa
7. ^ 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. sopa
8. ^ a b 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, 591
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. soupe
10. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 304
12. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sopa
14. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sopa
15. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sopa
16. ^ 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, 418
17. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. sopa
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sopa
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8625