--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@>
> wrote:
> >
> > caca-lacca? Portuguese? I've never heard it.
>
> Well, it's been documented, but what I meant to ask is: Would a
> hypothetical Portuguese word *caca-lacca make sense in Portuguese as
> a verb-object compound like French porte-monnaie, garde-robe? Does
> that type of nominal compound exist in Portuguese at all?
To my Italian ears -- which is not so distant from Portuguese -- such
a compound would make perfect sense (note that the verb cacare 'to
defecate' and the noun lacca 'lacquer' exist in both Italian and
medieval Latin, nay, caca:re is even a classical latin verb).
Cf. the following Italian slang verb-object compounds (well-attested
in literature):
http://italian.about.com/library/slang/bladultslangindexc.htm
cacasenno (un/una) n. a know-it-all, a smart-ass; (lit.): one who
[defecates] wisdom.
cacasentenze m./f. inv. one who likes to moralize, one who acts like
he/she is very smart, a smart ass; (lit.): one who shits sentences.
cacasodo m./f. inv. an arrogant person, someone who thinks his/her
[feces] doesn't stink; (lit.): one who defecates hard (from the verb
cacare, meaning "to [defecate]" and the adjective sodo,
meaning "tough" or "hard."
cacasotto m./f. inv. a very fearful person; (lit.): one who
[defecates] down below.
Regards,
Francesco