vindima

Forms

vindima f (plural vindimas)^[1] Older spellings are vendimia (13th century), vendima (14th) and vendyma and vindymia (15th).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vindēmia (“grape harvest, vintage”), written Old Galician-Portuguese vendimia and Old Galician-Portuguese vendima in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes explains the ⟨i⟩ of the first two syllables as the result of metaphony, and the ending as ⟨-ia⟩ reduced to ⟨-a⟩ by absorbing the semivowel.^[4][5]

The same Latin word is Galician vendima, Spanish vendimia, Catalan verema, French vendange and Italian vendemmia.^[6][1] García de Diego also lists an old Portuguese form Old Galician-Portuguese vindimia.^[7]

The Latin word comes from an older *vīnodēmia, a compound of vīnum (“wine”) and dēmō (“to take away, cut off”), with the noun suffix -ia.^[2][8][1] The verb is itself formed from dē- and emō (“to take, obtain”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to the 13th century, in the spelling vendimia, with the sense “grape harvest”.^[2] Cunha gives the forms vendimia and vendima from the 14th century and vindima from the 16th.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso, Barbosa and Pereira gloss the word with Latin vindemia.^[10][11][12] Bluteau has, beside the gathering of grapes for wine, the cut bunches themselves, the phrase pisar a vindima “to tread the vintage” and a set of proverbs.^[13] Morais in 1789 gives the three senses still current: the work of the harvest, the time of the harvest and the grapes harvested.^[14]

Figurative senses followed: a harvest of any fruit, a gain, and the winning of souls or followers for a cause, which the original Caldas Aulete illustrates with Completou-se a grande vindima do Senhor “the great vintage of the Lord was complete” from Monte Alverne.^[2][15] Porto Editora also records the figurative sense “destruction, death” and a variety of plum called vindima.^[16] In regional Portuguese the word is also used for the harvest of chestnuts or beans.^[17]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, spelt vendimia.^[2]
• 14th century – the spelling vendima.^[2][3]
• 15th century – the spellings vindima, vendyma and vindymia.^[2]
• 1510 – the Vida de Santo Agostinho (witness 1480–1510) has vindima.^[18]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists vindima.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives the phrase pisar a vindima and proverbs of the vintage.^[13]
• 1789 – Morais records the senses “harvest”, “harvest time” and “harvested grapes”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The grape harvest, the picking of grapes for wine; the vintage: Os primos vêm todos os anos ajudar na vindima.^{[2][19][20][1]}
2. The time of year when grapes are picked: Voltaram à aldeia pelas vindimas.^[2][20][16]
3. The grapes picked in one harvest: A vindima deste ano foi pequena.^[2][19][20]
4. By extension, the harvest of any fruit.^[2][19]
5. (figurative) A gain; the winning of people for a cause or a faith.^[2][19]
6. (figurative) destruction, slaughter.^[16][21]

Word family

• vindimador
• vindimal

Related words

• vindimar
• vinho
• Latin vindēmia
• Spanish vendimia

Usage notes

The proverb até ao lavar dos cestos é vindima “until the baskets are washed it is still the vintage” means that one should not give up or judge the outcome of an affair before it is over.^[16][15]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vindima
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vindima
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vindima
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 526
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9343
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. vindemia
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. vindēmia
9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. demo
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vindima
11. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. vindima
12. ^ 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. vindima
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. vindima
14. ^ 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, 526
15. ^ a b 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. vindima
16. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9515
17. ^ 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. vindima
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. vindima
19. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vindima
20. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vindima
21. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. vindima