Violão

02023-07-09 | Guitar, Language | 0 comments

In Brazilian Portuguese an acoustic guitar is called violão, while the electric guitar is called guitarra. The Portuguese guitar is a very different instrument. The rest of the world calls it a Portuguese guitar, but in Portugal it’s simply a guitar. So a different word was used for what the Spanish call a guitar. 

What I find interesting is that the guitar is female in all romance languages and even in German, which tends to try to be different. (the moon is male in German and the sun female. Craziness!!) But while it’s a guitarra (female) it is o violão (male). I supposed this shows that all languages develop around what feels good saying, not around what actually makes sense – as shown by aluminum or critter in American English – and perhaps people found that o violão and a guitarra sounded better. Or perhaps these genders really don’t mean anything… they are simply a way to make language more complicated. It’s something that English has solved beautifully. 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Archives

Images

Concert Dates

Sun, Feb 16 2025 in Santa Barbara, CA
@ Soho

Mon, Feb 17 2025 in Santa Cruz, CA
@ Rio Theater

Tue, Feb 18 2025 in Oakland, CA
@ Yoshi’s

Wed, Feb 19 2025 in Oakland, CA
@ Yoshi’s

Thu, Feb 20 2025 in Sacramento, CA
@ Sofia Theater

Fri, Feb 21 2025 in Napa, CA
@ Blue Note Napa

Sat, Feb 22 2025 in Napa, CA
@ Blue Note Napa

Sun, Feb 23 2025 in Napa, CA
@ Blue Note Napa

Social

@Mastodon (the Un-Twitter)