taça

Forms

taça f (plural taças)^[1] A Galician document of 1305 writes taza.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic طَاس (ṭās, “bowl”), in the Andalusian form that Corriente writes ṭássa.^[1][3][4][5] Arabic took the word from Middle Persian tašt.^[3][1] Houaiss and Cunha derive the Portuguese word directly from Arabic, while Wiktionary, the DLP and Porto Editora take it through Spanish taza.^{[4][5][1][6][7]} Corominas notes that the Portuguese word is no younger than the Spanish word, first recorded in 1272.^[8]

The same Arabic word is Catalan tassa, French tasse and Italian tazza.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology has the word in 1302, duas taças que de min ten “two cups of mine that he holds”, and a mia taza beside o meu vasso dourado “my gilded vessel” in 1305.^[2] The Crónica Geral of 1344 has taças nẽ vasos “neither cups nor vessels”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the notarial books of Noia, from 1395 to 1487, a silver taça often serves as payment in place of coins.^[2] The dictionaries describe a wide, shallow drinking vessel of glass, clay or metal, often on a foot, and Vieira (1871–1874) records homem amigo da taça “a man fond of the cup”, a lover of wine.^[9][10]

The cup given as a prize gave the sporting sense “trophy”, and in Portugal the competition itself is a taça.^[11][1][12] With a capital, Taça is the name of the constellation Crater.^[6]

Timeline

• 1302 – taças in a Galician-Portuguese document.^[2]
• 1305 – taza in a Galician document.^[2]
• 1344 – taças in the Crónica Geral.^[2]
• 1395 – a silver taça used as payment in Noia.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders it patera.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a wide-mouthed, low drinking vessel of glass or metal.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cup or goblet, a wide, shallow drinking glass on a stem, used for wine or champagne: Ergueram as taças para brindar.^[4][14][1]
2. Its contents: uma taça de vinho tinto.^[4][11]
3. A small bowl.^[4][1]
4. (sports) A trophy in the shape of a cup, and (Portugal) the competition for it.^[4][12][1]
5. The guard of a sword's hilt.^[4][11]
6. (figurative) A source of good or evil.^[4][11]

Word family

• taçada

Related words

• Spanish taza
• Italian tazza

Usage notes

Levantar a taça means to raise one's glass in a toast.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. taça
3. ^ a b c Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. taça
4. ^ 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. taça
5. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. taça
6. ^ a b 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. taça
7. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8773
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 443
9. ^ 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, 439
10. ^ 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, 660
11. ^ a b c d 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. taça
12. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. taça
13. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. taça
14. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. taça