veio

Forms

veio m (plural veios)^[1] Wiktionary also records the spelling vêio.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese veia + -o, a masculine made from the feminine noun “vein”.^{[2][1][3][4][5]} The feminine is from Latin vēna (“vein”), written Old Galician-Portuguese vẽa in the 13th century.^[6][7] The same feminine gave veeiro “lode, seam”, recorded since the 13th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha's first date is 1813, with the sense “a band of earth or rock that differs from the rock beside it in nature or colour”.^[7] Houaiss dates the word only from the Aulete dictionary of 1881.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Vieira's dictionary of the 1870s gives only a technical sense, an iron bar on which a wheel turns.^[8] The old Aulete has the band in the rock, the lode of a mine, a rivulet, and the coloured streaks of stone and marble; it also records the northern Brazilian “crank” and the Goiás sense “the middle of a river”, and quotes Garrett's figurative achar o veio do sofisma “to find the core of the sophism”.^[9] Houaiss and Aurélio add the grain of wood and the streaks in glass.^[2][4] In Trás-os-Montes a veio is a twist of straw for tying sheaves, and the iron shaft of a water mill.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1813 – Cunha's first date.^[7]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the sense “iron shaft of a wheel”.^[8]
• 1881 – Houaiss's first date, from the Aulete dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long narrow band in earth or rock that differs from what surrounds it in colour or nature.^[2][4][5]
2. (mining) A vein, lode: the part of a mine where the ore lies: um veio de prata.^[2][4][1]
3. A streak or vein in marble, stone or wood; the grain of wood.^[2][12][1]
4. A small stream, a rivulet; an underground course of water.^[2][4][1]
5. (mechanics, chiefly Portugal) A shaft, an iron axle that transmits rotation.^[2][4][5]
6. (northern Brazil) A crank, manivela.^[2][13]
7. (figurative) The core, the essence of something: o veio da questão.^[2][4]

Related words

• veia
• veeiro
• Latin vēna

Usage notes

Veio is also the third person singular preterite of vir “to come”.^[8] In informal Brazilian speech veio, with an open /ɛ/, is also written for véio, a pronunciation of velho “old”.^[1][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. veio
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. veio
4. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. veio
5. ^ a b c 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. veio
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. veia
7. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. veia
8. ^ a b c 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, 890
9. ^ 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. veio
10. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. veio
11. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. veio
12. ^ 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. veio
13. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. veio
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. veio