víbora

Forms

víbora f (plural víboras)^[1] The old forms are bibera (14th century), ujberas (15th century) and bibora (16th century); Cunha dates víbora from the 17th century.^[2][3] Corominas and the REW also give an older bívora.^[4][5] Wiktionary lists bívora as an alternative form.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vīpera (“viper”), written Old Galician-Portuguese bibera in the 14th century.^[2][3][1] Corominas counts the Portuguese and Spanish words as semi-learned, because they keep the vowel after the stress, unlike Catalan vibra or Old French guivre; this helped popular speech turn ⟨*víbera⟩ into ⟨víbora⟩ under the influence of vivo and of the preceding labial.^[4] Nascentes also puts the change of e to o down to the labial.^[6][7]

The same Latin word is Galician víbora, Spanish víbora, Italian vipera and Occitan vibra;^[5][8] García de Diego records a dialectal ⟨vibra⟩ in the Alentejo.^[5][8]

Pliny explained the Latin word as “bearing live young”, from vīvus (“alive”) and pariō (“to give birth”), and the OLD and Wiktionary follow him.^[9][1] De Vaan rejects that explanation on formal and semantic grounds and prefers a derivative of the root of vibrō (“to shake, brandish”), Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to swing”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Horto do Esposo, in a manuscript of 1390–1437, has the form bibera.^[11] Houaiss's earliest record, of the 14th century, has the same spelling.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) repeats the ancient explanation of the name, “because it gives birth to live young”, and rejects a popular one, “because it perishes by force”.^[12] Bluteau gives the same explanation and a long description of the snake.^[13]

The figurative sense “a malicious or bad-tempered person” is recorded by Cunha and illustrated by the old Caldas Aulete with Camilo Castelo Branco and Castilho.^[3][14] The same dictionary records local uses: a venomous moray in the Azores, and in north-eastern Brazil a harmless gecko.^[14][15] In Portugal Priberam also gives a regional bird name, the same as abibe.^[16] Tetum borrowed the word as víbora.^[1]

Timeline

• 14th century – bibera in Houaiss's medieval record.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – bibera in the Horto do Esposo.^[11]
• 15th century – the spelling ujberas.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary heads the word Bibora.^[17]
• 1611 – Barbosa also has Bibora and explains the Latin name.^[12]
• 17th century – Cunha's first date for víbora.^[3]
• 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro heads the word Vibora.^[18]
• 1712 – Bluteau describes the snake.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) A viper, any of the venomous snakes of the Old World in the subfamily Viperinae, especially the genus Vipera.^[2][15][1]
2. (figurative) A malicious, false or bad-tempered person: Cuidado com ela, é uma víbora.^[2][15][1]
3. (north-eastern Brazil) A small harmless gecko; lagartixa.^[15][19][20]
4. (Azores) The fangtooth moray (Enchelycore anatina), whose bite is venomous.^[14][1]
5. (Portugal, regional; masculine) The lapwing; abibe.^[16]

Word family

• víbora-cornuda
• víbora-do-gabão

Related words

• viperino
• vipéreo
• Latin vīpera
• Spanish víbora

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. víbora
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. víbora
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 803
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9358
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. víbora
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 525
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. vipera
10. ^ 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 Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. bibera
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bibora
13. ^ 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. vibora
14. ^ a b c 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. víbora
15. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. víbora
16. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. víbora
17. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bibora
18. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vibora
19. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. víbora
20. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. víbora