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)

1. boy (young male human)
   • 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, 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.

Descendants

• Galician: meniño
• Portuguese: menino
  • Spanish: menino, menina
    • French: menin

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