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vaqueiro

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word vaqueiro

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1200s More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin vacca
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vacca
Catalan vaca
French vache
Italian vacca
Portuguese vaca
Portuguese vaqueiro
Romanian vacă
Spanish vaca
From the same root
English vaccine ← vacca
Latin vaccīnus ← vacca
Italian stravaccarsi ← vacca
Spanish vaquero ← vaca

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /vaˈke(j).ɾu/, [vaˈke(ɪ̯).ɾu][1]
  • Portugal: /vɐˈkɐj.ɾu/[1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /bɐˈkej.ɾu/[1]
  • Central, Portugal: /vɐˈkej.ɾu/[1]

Forms

vaqueiro m (plural vaqueiros, feminine vaqueira, feminine plural vaqueiras)[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote vaqueyro, and uaqueyro is still found in the 15th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese vaca + -eiro, “cow” with the suffix of trades and occupations, as Houaiss, Cunha, Nascentes, Aurélio and the DLP analyse it.[2][4][5][6][7] Wiktionary instead takes it as inherited from the Medieval Latin vaccārius (“cowherd”), which Niermeyer records both as an adjective “of cattle” and as a noun “cowherd”.[1][8] The Latin noun is formed from vacca (“cow”) with the suffix -ārius.[1]

The same formation is Galician vaqueiro, Spanish vaquero, Catalan vaquer, Occitan vaquièr, French vacher, Italian vaccaio and Romanian văcar.[9][10][1]

The Latin word for the cow has no secure etymology: de Vaan rejects the old comparison with a Sanskrit word for “cow”, because the Latin vowel and the double consonant cannot be derived from the same form without special assumptions.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 1059 already has the word in its Romance shape, in the phrase istos cum criacione uaqueiros et equarizos (these, with their brood of cattle and horses), where it is still an adjective.[3][2] In 1288 a man is called Pedro G. dicto vaqueyro “Pedro G., called the cowherd”, and the Galician-Portuguese Crónica Geral of 1344 tells that the farmers and cowherds of Spain used to call black cows moras (os lavradores e os vaqueiros d'Espanha avyam por custume de chamar aas vezes aas vacas negras moras).[3]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries from Cardoso (1569) on translate the noun with Latin bubulcus “ox-herd” and armentarius “herdsman”.[12][13] Bluteau (1712) defines a herdsman of large cattle, cows and oxen, and adds that vaqueiro was also the name of a drummer's coat trimmed with braid, with long, narrow hanging sleeves, and of a kind of woman's dress.[14] Vieira (1871–1874) still lists the rustic shepherd's garment and the drummer's coat, and later dictionaries mark both as obsolete.[15][16][17]

For the Brazilian herdsman Aurélio records regional synonyms such as campeiro in the north-east and chapadeiro in Minas Gerais.[6] The word also names several animals there: in Minas Gerais the shiny cowbird and another bird, the carretão, elsewhere the trinca-ferro and a long-horned beetle.[2][16] Wiktionary treats the sense “cowboy” of the North American West as a semantic loan from the English word cowboy.[1]

Timeline

  • 1059 – a Latin charter writes uaqueiros as an adjective.[3][2]
  • 1288 – Pedro G. dicto vaqueyro, a byname.[3]
  • 13th century – Cunha's first record of vaqueyro.[4]
  • 1344 – the Crónica Geral has os lavradores e os vaqueiros d'Espanha.[3]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary translates vaqueiro as bubulcus.[12]
  • 1611 – Barbosa heads the word Vaqueyro.[18]
  • 1712 – Bluteau adds the senses of a drummer's coat and a woman's dress, and the proverb hontem vaqueiro, hoje cavalleiro.[14]
  • 1789 – Morais defines a herdsman who keeps cattle.[19]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cowherd, a man who tends and drives cattle; in Brazil, the mounted herdsman of the cattle ranches: O vaqueiro levou a boiada ao rio.[2][6][1]
  2. A cowboy of the North American West.[1]
  3. (obsolete) A shepherd's garment; a drummer's coat trimmed with braid, with narrow hanging sleeves.[16][17]
  4. (Brazil, Minas Gerais) The shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), also called chupim.[2][1]
  5. (Brazil, Minas Gerais) The carretão, a bird (Sericossypha loricata).[2]
  6. The trinca-ferro, a songbird (Saltator maximus).[2][6]
  7. (entomology) A long-horned beetle, Hypocephalus armatus.[2][16]

Adjective

  1. Relating to cattle: gado vaqueiro.[2][6][7]

Word family

  • vaqueirada
  • vaqueirice
  • gavião-vaqueiro

Usage notes

Bluteau and Vieira record the proverb hontem vaqueiro, hoje cavalleiro “yesterday a cowherd, today a knight”, said of a quick rise in station.[14][15] The surname Vaqueiro began, according to Nascentes, as a nickname from the common noun.[20]

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 h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vaqueiro
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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. vaqueyro
  4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vaca
  5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vaqueiro
  6. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vaqueiro
  7. ^ 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. vaqueiro
  8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. vaccarius
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9109
  10. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. vaqueiro
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vaqueiro
  13. ^ 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. vaqueiro
  14. ^ 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. vaqueiro
  15. ^ 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, 878
  16. ^ 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. vaqueiro
  17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vaqueiro
  18. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vaqueyro
  19. ^ 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, 509
  20. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. vaqueiro
Cite this entry

“Vaqueiro.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/vaqueiro. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·