Talk:List of English words of Portuguese origin

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Questionable words[edit]

Banana[edit]

It seems to me that Banana is one, but im not sure...

  • Osias

Banana is not originally from Portuguese, but rather from Afrikan languages. It's already listed properly under English words of Afrikan origin. Jagripino 15:59, 5 Oct 2004 (UTC)

  • most of the African, South American, and Asian fruits in most languages are of Portuguese origin (some south American are also of Spanish origin), obviously they were taken from native languages. This English origin words are greatly biassed. -Pedro 18:15, 16 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Mandarin[edit]

Mandarin is a disambiguation page. Does the entry apply to any specific meaning? Flowerparty talk 16:20, 21 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yam[edit]

I removed Yam from the list. It's from West African languages, I don't know how you could equate that to Portuguese. But I'm not a linguist, so let me know if I'm wrong.

The entry looked like:

yam
from inhame from West African nyama (="eat")

--Commander Keane 02:46, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I found it back on the list and it indeed seems to be correct: the fact that English took it from Portuguese, which had taken it from West African languages, does not equate to English took it from West African Languages. Otherwise, every single word would be from the first grunt ever uttered by our very first ancestors.
I'll complete the etymology though with all of the above --maf 16:16, 15 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"Negro"[edit]

The same word exists in Spanish. Is there evidence that English borrowed it from Portuguese, rather than from Spanish? FilipeS 15:29, 31 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

  • American Heritage says here that it's too close to call. There are many such instances. Feel free to put a note on this page and on the Spanish etymology page that it could be from either, but cite a source.--Hraefen 20:46, 31 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

As a matter of fact, looking at English words of Spanish origin, there are other words stated here as coming from Portuguese, which could have come from Spanish, as well. FilipeS 14:50, 3 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Quite a few of these words are questionable as there are no citations. How does this page clarify, for example, if a word TRULY arrived to English from Portuguese as opposed to its common origin in Latin?

  • In most cases it's either obvious from the form taken by the word (such as the words that are spelled or pronounced as in Portuguese) or from the word's history (such as when they entered the Portuguese or Brazilians, either from the Arabic conquerors of Portugal or from foreign trade and exploration, after the people were no longer speaking Latin). --Largo Plazo 04:56, 15 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Cow-tree[edit]

I don't see why this word should be here. The term from which it derives is written in Spanish (palo is the Spanish cognate for the Portuguese word pau). Moreover, the term in itself is contradictory because afaik the spanish term means trunk or wood (while the Portuguese cognate does have, in Brazil, the secondary meaning of tree). Nevertheless, I have never heard pau-de-vaca or seen it in any literary work or dictionary (not that I pose to have an enormous culture, but I am a History teacher, an amateur writer, a translator and an avid reader). Yes, my 1973 edition of Aurelio is outdated and the word could have come into use since then -- but, seriously, would it have time to become a loanword into the English language in only 30-odd years? (More, pau-de-vaca is not on the Portuguese Wikipedia, not on the Spanish one either.

Another interesting thing about this word is that it is obviously a fabrication, a pun that some native Portuguese speaker is carrying on. Why? Because the portuguese equivalent to cow-tree would be pau-vaca, not pau-de-vaca. In Romance languages, the preposition de acts a genitive/possessive marker, therefore, pau-de-vaca would mean cow's tree. Considering that pau is also a widespread slang for "penis" in the Portuguese language you may be getting closer to what I mean... ;-) Not that it makes sense, pau-de-touro ("bull's...) would make more. jggouvea 23:23, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Capitalized[edit]

I have capitalized each word as per the general convention in a dictionary entry. --Bhadani 12:58, 14 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Alcatraz[edit]

I'm removing Alcatraz from this list. Like many of the surrounding localities (including San Francisco, Tiburon, and Sausalito), it was named by the original Spanish settlers, not by Portuguese speakers. --Largo Plazo 16:09, 10 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Cow-tree[edit]

I am not sure of the terminology in English, but I think "cow-tree" is not an "English word of Portuguese origin" but a "calque" (a phrase in a language that echoes or evokes an original phrase in another language due to bad translation or translation by analogy). If we count "cow-tree" there may be many more words in many language lists... jggouvea 02:17, 17 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

According to Merriam-Webster.com: 1 [translation of American Spanish árbol de vaca] a : a South American tree (Brosimum galactodendron) yielding a rich milky juice sometimes used as food. b : any of several other trees (as the balata and the couma) yielding a similar juice. Lisapaloma (talk) 15:00, 3 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

2007-02-25 Automated pywikipediabot message[edit]

--CopyToWiktionaryBot 13:38, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

parasol is borrowed from Italian and café is French[edit]

Please visit below webpages. On the each page you can notice following phrases.

— ORIGIN Italian parasole, from para- ‘protecting against’ + sole ‘sun’.

Etymology: French, from Old Italian parasole, from parare to shield + sole sun, from Latin sol

[Early 17th century. Via French< Italian parasole< parare "protect" + sole "sun"]

1616, from Fr. parasol (1580), from It. parasole, lit. "protection from the sun," from para- "defense against" (from verb parere "to ward off") + sole "sun," from L. solem (nom. sol).

[Origin: 1610–20; < F, MF < It parasole. See para-2, Sol]


— ORIGIN French, ‘coffee or coffee house’.

Etymology: French café coffee, café, from Turkish kahve

[Early 19th century. Via French, "(place serving) coffee" < Turkish kahveh "coffee" or Arabic qahwah "coffee, wine"]

1802, from Fr. café "coffee, coffeehouse," from It. caffe "coffee."

[Origin: 1780–90; < F: lit., coffee] [French, coffee, café, from Italian caffè, coffee, from Ottoman Turkish qahveh; see coffee.]

spanish[edit]

Almost all the words of this article has spanish origin, not portuguese. the spanish influence over english language is derived from centuries, in many continents, over all in USA, Canada, Gibraltar, Belize, and caribbean sea, while the portuguese language doesnt had nothing to see with english..... just learn with history´s books!

other things are the huge similarities between spanish and portuguese.--Venerock (talk) 06:57, 18 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well in that case there are two points to consider: - Some spanish words are also borrowed from portuguese. And also, both languages have borrowed words form original amerindian languages, which makes them similar. - In the early navegations, England had close ties to Portugal and was enemy of Spain. Therefore, a lot of portuguese words were transfered to english language, rather than coming from spanish. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.82.134.159 (talk) 23:20, 8 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]


The main reason why a word with an origin supposedly indistinguishable between Portuguese and Spanish is more likely to proceed from Portuguese is the existence of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance since 1373. With a few exceptional years, the only conversation the British had with the Spanish were through cannon balls and swords. Loureiroandre (talk) 09:39, 27 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I believe "port" in the sense of the wine is Portuguese, as well as being worth drinking. Pass the port! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.235.212.17 (talk) 19:42, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

About "learning with history´s books" > Anglo-Portuguese close relations are way older than 1373, and they started since the birth of Portugal in the 12th century. --Good Hope Phanta (talk) 17:33, 5 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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