berengenha

Old Galician-Portuguese

Alternative forms

• *berengela (attested through a surname)

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic بَاذِنْجَان (bāḏinjān), borrowed from Classical Persian بَاذِنْگَان (bāzingān), borrowed from Sanskrit वातिङ्गण (vātiṅgaṇa), from Proto-Dravidian *waẓVtV.

Noun

berengenha f (plural *berengenhas)

1. (hapax) aubergine, eggplant
   • 13th century, João de Gaia, [cantiga 1452]; republished as Angelo Colocci, compiler, Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional, Italy, c. 1525–1526, cantiga 1452:

     Eu cõuidey hũ Prelado
     A iantar se bẽ me uenha
     Diʒel en eſte meꝰ narizeſ
     De color de berẽgenha
     Uos auedelꝰ alhꝰ ũdes
     E matrmiades cõ el̃s

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• Fala: berenjena
• Galician: berenxena
• Portuguese: beringela, berengela (obsolete), berinjela (Brazil)
  • → English: brinjal, bringal, bringall, bringaul, brinjall, brinjaul
  • → Gujarati: બ્રિંજલ (briñjal)
  • → Hunsrik: Bërinschela

References

• Manuel Ferreiro (2014–2024) “berengenha”, in Universo Cantigas. Edición crítica da poesía medieval galego-portuguesa (in Galician), A Coruña: UDC, →ISSN
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “berenge+a”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “berengenha”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG