véu

Forms

véu m (plural véus)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote veo and, in the 14th century, ueeo.^[2][3] The dictionaries of Cardoso (1569), Bluteau (1712) and Morais (1789) still head the word veo.^[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vēlum (“sail; cloth, curtain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese veo in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][7] Nascentes cites Cavacas, who explains the open /ɛ/ of the modern form by analogy with céu.^[7]

The Latin plural ⟨vela⟩ gave vela “sail”, which the old language wrote Old Galician-Portuguese vea.^[2][3][8] The same Latin word is Spanish velo, Catalan vel, French voile and Italian velo.^[9][1]

The Latin noun goes back to *wekslom, as its diminutive vēxillum (“banner”) shows.^[10][1] De Vaan finds the root Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to weave”) of Celtic and Germanic more likely than *weǵʰ- (“to convey”), and mentions Peruzzi's view that two different preforms merged in it.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell how a man saw the Mother of God coberta de seu veo “covered with her veil”, and of a veil that the fire did not touch.^[11] Lorenzo's chronology also quotes a chronicle: fezo poer ueeo a sua filla “he had a veil put on his daughter”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau in 1712 gives the main uses of the time: a cloth that hides a thing from view, the veil of the Temple that was torn at the Crucifixion, the veil over the chalice and the nun's veil.^[5] Morais in 1789 defines it as very thin linen or silk to cover the face, and quotes the image of a pale “veil” spreading over the face of the dying.^[6]

The figurative senses, anything that hides or disguises and a cloud of sadness, grew out of the first.^[2][12] Anatomy calls the soft palate véu palatino, and zoology and botany use the word for several membranes.^[12][2] Houaiss and Schlee also record the sense “a sheep's fleece taken off whole at shearing”, the latter in Rio Grande do Sul.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 13th century – veo in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[11][2]
• 14th century – the spelling ueeo.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) has veo.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses veo with Latin velum and cortina.^[4]
• 1712 – Bluteau lists the chalice veil and the nun's veil.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais still heads the word veo.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A veil: a light, thin fabric with which women cover the head or face.^[2][15][1]
2. Any cloth used to cover something; a curtain; the cloth over the chalice at Mass.^[2][16]
3. The head covering of a nun (freira).^[15][12]
4. (figurative) Anything that hides or conceals; a pretext, an appearance: sob o véu da modéstia.^[2][12]
5. (figurative) A shadow of sadness or grief.^[2][12]
6. A sheep's fleece removed in one piece at shearing.^[2][13]
7. (anatomy, zoology) A membrane (membrana) or similar structure;^[2][12] véu palatino, the soft palate.^[2][12]

Word family

• bioco
• embiocar

Related words

• vela
• velar
• Spanish velo

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 h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. véu
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. véu
4. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. veo
5. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. veo
6. ^ 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, 18
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. véu
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9183
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9184
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c 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. veo
12. ^ a b c d e f g Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. véu
13. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 2
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. veo
15. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. véu
16. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9480