xarope

Forms

xarope m (plural xaropes)^[1] The oldest form is sarope;^[2][3] xarope, enxarope and xerope follow in the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic شراب (šaráb), the Andalusian Arabic form of Arabic شراب (šarāb, “drink, beverage”), a noun of شرب (šariba, “to drink”).^[4][2][1] Houaiss and the Aurélio give the Arabic word the senses “drink” and “potion”.^[2][5] Cunha, Nascentes and the first Aurélio take the Portuguese vowel ⟨o⟩ to come through a variant ⟨šarōb⟩.^[3][6][7] Gonçalves Viana was puzzled by the /p/, a sound Arabic lacks, and seems to have preferred a base ⟨šarub⟩.^[8]

The same Arabic word is Spanish jarabe and Catalan xarop, and Corriente traces to it also Italian sciroppo and the Medieval Latin siruppus.^[4][1] Spanish had xarabe about 1270 and also a form xarope, frequent from the 13th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a line of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (no. 321), in which someone recovers full health sen bever sarope nen aver banno de tỹa, “without drinking syrup or taking a bath in a tub”.^[10] Houaiss dates this form to the 13th century from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese.^[2] The word thus names a medicinal drink from the start.^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso's and Barbosa's dictionaries render it with Latin words for syrup and a medical potion, and Barbosa adds the verb xaroparse “to take a syrup”.^[11][12] Morais in 1789 defines it as a pharmaceutical preparation of several ingredients in sugar syrup.^[13] Beside the medicine the word came to mean a home remedy or herbal tea, any sugar syrup boiled with water, and anything too sweet.^[2][5] Michaelis also records it as the name of the fourth boiling pan in the old sugar mills.^[14]

In Brazil the word became an informal adjective and noun for a tiresome or boring person or thing, a figurative use of the medicine.^[2][1] Schlee records this use in Rio Grande do Sul for an unpleasant person, animal or event.^[15] Brazilian speakers also use it for someone who is not in his right mind.^[16][1] Corriente notes a modern Portuguese xarau “palm wine”, linked to the colonies in North Africa and the Indian Ocean.^[4]

Timeline

• 13th century – sarope in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[10][2]
• 15th century – the forms xarope, enxarope and xerope.^[2][3]
• 16th century – first record of the verb enxaropar.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists Xarope.^[11]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists the word with the verb xaroparse.^[12]
• 1692 – a private letter writes charopes.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a compound medicine in sugar syrup.^[13]
• 1813 – first record of xaropada.^[3]
• 1899 – first record of xaroposo.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (pharmacy) A sweet liquid medicine, a syrup: Tome uma colher de xarope antes de dormir.^[2][5][1]
2. A home remedy; a tisane.^[2][5][18]
3. A solution of sugar boiled in water, a sugar syrup (calda).^[2][5]
4. (informal) A food or drink that is far too sweet.^[2][1]
5. (Brazil, informal) A tiresome person or thing; a bore.^[2][18][1]
6. (Brazil, slang) A person who is out of his mind.^[1][16]
7. Formerly, the fourth pan in the boiling house of a sugar mill.^[14]

Adjective

1. (Brazil, informal) tiresome, boring: um sujeito muito xarope.^[2][1]

Word family

• enxaropar
• xaropada
• xaroposo

Related words

• Spanish jarabe
• Catalan xarop

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 l m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. xarope
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. xarope
4. ^ a b c Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. jarabe
5. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. xarope
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. xarope
7. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 1501
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. xarope
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 498
10. ^ a b c 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. sarope
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. xarope
12. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. xarope
13. ^ 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, 538
14. ^ a b 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. xarope
15. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. xarope
16. ^ a b 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. xarope
17. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. xarope
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. xarope