Portuguese words from English
5 Portuguese words with English in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
bandana
It is probably borrowed from English bandanna, which Dalgado, quoted by Machado, considered the immediate source; the English word comes from Hindi बंधन (bandhan, “the act of binding, a bond”). The…
fonte
1. The word for a spring is inherited from Latin fōns (“spring, well”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fonte in the oldest texts. The Latin noun was masculine, but changed gender in the 4th…
messe
1. The word for the harvest is inherited from Latin messis (“reaping, harvest”), through its accusative. The same Latin word is Spanish mies, Italian messe, Old French mes and Old Occitan mes. The…
supremacia
It is borrowed from French suprématie, first recorded in Constâncio's dictionary of 1836. The French word, of 1651, is from English supremacy, first recorded in 1549, a derivative of supreme, which…
tanque
1. The word for the reservoir is of disputed origin. Houaiss, Cunha, Aurélio and Nascentes lean towards an aphetic from Portuguese estanque (“pond, reservoir”), itself from the verb estancar, which…