visaxe

Galician

Etymology

Attested since circa 1800. From French visage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [biˈsaʃɪ]

Noun

visaxe m (plural visaxes)

1. gesture

   Synonym: aceno

   • 1813, Manuel Pardo de Andrade, Rogos dun galego:

     Meigas, feitizos e bruxas
     que persigue a Inquisicion,
     sin mascara, socaliñas
     de cregos e frades son.
     Chamanlles bruxas à ás vellas
     por ter cara de carton;
     pero solamente hay meygas
     en donde hay Inquisicion.
     As femias da nosa especie
     de certa constitucion
     fan visaxes, e son tolas,
     pero feitizeiras non.

     Witches, spells and hexes,
     who are prosecuted by the Inquisition,
     maskless, hoaxes
     of priests and friars are.
     They call hex an old lady
     because her face is made of cardboard;
     but there are witches
     just where it is Inquisition.
     Females of our species,
     of certain constitution,
     make gestures, and are mad,
     but sorceresses they are not.

References

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “visaxe”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “visaxe”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega