menỹo
Old Portuguese
Alternative forms
- meninno
- menino
Etymology
Unknown. Possibly from Latin minimus; compare the Spanish phrase mi niño. Or, possibly an expressive cry, compared with Catalan minyó (“boy”), French mignon (“cute”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /me.ˈni.ɲo/, /me.ˈnĩ.j̃o/
Noun
menỹo m (plural menỹos, feminine menỹa, feminine plural menỹas)
- boy (young male human)
- 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, E codex, cantiga 6 (facsimile):
- Eſta e como ſanta maria reſſucitou ao menỹo que o Judeu matara por que cantaua Gaude uirgo maria.
- This one is how Holy Mary resurrected the boy who the Jew had killed because he sang Gaude Virgo Maria.
- Eſta e como ſanta maria reſſucitou ao menỹo que o Judeu matara por que cantaua Gaude uirgo maria.
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Descendants
- Galician: meniño
- Portuguese: menino
- Spanish: menino, menina
- French: menin
- Spanish: menino, menina
References
- Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
- “menỹo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014