Portuguese words from Occitan
19 Portuguese words with Occitan in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
alhures
Its origin is disputed. Houaiss, Machado, Cunha and Aurélio take it as probably borrowed from Old Occitan alhors (“elsewhere”). Machado follows Joseph Nunes here. Carolina Michaëlis compares alhurs…
anel
It is borrowed from Old Occitan anel (“ring”), from Latin ānellus (“little ring; finger ring”), written Old Galician-Portuguese anel in the oldest texts. Houaiss and Cunha give only the Latin word…
assaz
It is borrowed from Old Occitan assatz (“enough, very”), from Late Latin ad satis (“enough”), from Latin ad (“to”) and satis (“enough”). Houaiss gives the Late Latin phrase, probably through the…
batalha
Cunha takes it as borrowed from Old Occitan batalha, itself from Late Latin battalia, a variant of battualia (“fencing”). Houaiss traces it directly to batt(u)alia (“combat, fight”) of Medieval…
beleza
It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan belleza, though Italian bellezza is also possible; both come from Vulgar Latin *bellitia, an abstract noun formed on Latin bellus (“pretty, handsome”)…
cavilha
It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan cavilla (“peg”), as Aurélio, Michaelis and DELPo give it, while Wiktionary allows Italian caviglia as the source as well. The Occitan and Italian words go…
esmalte
It is borrowed from Old Occitan esmalt (“enamel”) or Catalan esmalt, from Frankish *smalt. Cunha names only the Catalan word, of Germanic origin, and Houaiss notes that the Catalan form is first…
flamengo
1. The word for Flemish is borrowed from Medieval Latin flamengus, derived from Dutch flaming (“native of Flanders”). Wiktionary calls it a semi-learned borrowing of flamencus and traces it to Old…
funil
It is borrowed from Occitan fonilh (“funnel”) (also enfonilh), from Latin fundibulum. Meyer-Lübke explains the ⟨n⟩ for Latin ⟨nd⟩ as a Gascon development, so that the word would have started from…
grinalda
According to Cunha, Nascentes and Aulete it is borrowed from Old Occitan guirlanda, taken through the older form grilanda, with metathesis of the consonants. Houaiss instead takes it from Spanish…
linguagem
It is borrowed from Old Occitan lenguatge, written Old Galician-Portuguese lenguage in the oldest texts. Houaiss analyses it as from Portuguese língua + -agem under the influence of the Occitan…
malvado
It is borrowed from Old Occitan malvat, according to Houaiss, Cunha and the original Caldas Aulete. Houaiss gives the Old Provençal nominative malvatz. Wiktionary has it come through Spanish…
marquês
Its origin is disputed. According to Cunha it is borrowed from Old Occitan marques; the DLP, Aurélio and Michaelis also derive it from Occitan. Machado considered a borrowing from Spanish marqués…
mote
It is borrowed from Old Occitan mot (“word, short saying”), or the French mot, which is recorded from the 10th century. The Occitan and French word continues Late Latin muttum (“a sound, a mutter”)…
refrão
It is borrowed from Spanish refrán (“refrain; proverb”), which is from Old Occitan refranh (“refrain”). The Occitan noun comes from refránher (“to restrain; to modulate”), from fránher (“to break”)…
toalha
It is borrowed from Old Occitan toalha (“towel”), which goes back through Medieval Latin toallia to Frankish *thwahlja (“towel, washcloth”). Houaiss and Cunha give the Occitan source and the…
torneio
It is borrowed from Old Occitan tornei, a deverbal noun of torneiar (“to wheel about from side to side on horseback”). Cunha traces the Occitan verb to the noun for the lathe. Wiktionary takes the…
trufa
It is borrowed from French truffe (“truffle”), which is from Old Occitan trufa. The Occitan word comes from Late Latin tufera of the glosses, from tufer, a dialectal variant of Latin tuber…
viagem
It is borrowed from Old Occitan viatge, written Old Galician-Portuguese viage and Old Galician-Portuguese viagem in the oldest texts. The Occitan word comes from Latin viāticum (“provisions for a…