semesuga

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Latin sanguisūga, from sanguis + sūgō.

Noun

*semesuga f (plural semesugas)

1. leech
   • 1420, Álvaro Eans das Eiras, transl., Tratado de Albeitaria, translation of De Medicina Equorum by Giordano Ruffo, page 135:

     Para esto ual reer o lugar jnchado et çercallo de semesugas para liurar ende o sange que y ha para seyr fora

     For this is valid to shave the swollen place and then to encircle it with leeches, so freeing the blood that is there, letting it go out

Usage notes

• Only attested in the plural.

Descendants

• Galician: samesuga, sambesuga

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “semesuga”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega