Portuguese words

[ohapid...@yahoo.com]

 Duarte-Nesmento family - San Miguel, Azores

 

We called our grandfather Voo Voo.  Why we doubled the sound of the portuguese word for grandfather I don't know. I think the word is vous?   but I remember calling my grandmother gramma. Did anyone else do this?

 

I didn't speak Portuguese (Im only half) but knew a lot of the words and could understand most of what was being said. When the adults didn't want we children to understand what they were saying they would talk in Portuguese..ha ha, but I "knew" what they were talking about.   Although my grandfather could speak english, my grandmother could barely speak any of it but we communicated just fine.  I'm trying to recall some slang and words used that I wonder about.

Gazinka?  It seems that's what we called the "toilet bowl"  but that word doesn't turn up when I look up portuguese words...was this a slang?

loretta

 

 

[Cheri Mello]

Properly: Grandmother = avó.  Grandfather = avô

Children say: Grandma = vovó and grandpa = vovô (I think)

 

I'm not entirely sure I got the accenting correct.

 

I had a Brazilian student and she worked with me on the correct proununciation of those Os.

 

Cheri

[William Nascimento]

Duarte-Nesmento or Nascimento?

 

William Nascimento, PE, SE

Cell Phone No. 949-357-9015

Wil...@lancivil.com

 

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[Sam Koester]

I am 100% Portuguese (whatever that means, ;-))  but; I don’t speak the language.  My grandfathers on both sides were dead by the time I was on the scene but; we called our grandmother’s something that sounded like:  Vava, with that last a drawn out and having a sort of au or aw sound.  Not speaking Portuguese, I don’t know what the diatribes sound like.  Sam in CA

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Azo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:Azo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of ohapid...@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 9:56 AM
To: Azo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Portuguese words

 

 Duarte-Nesmento family - San Miguel, Azores

 </div

[gregor...@comcast.net]

The Portuguese word for grandmother is avó...the o pronounced "aw" like in "saw".

The word for grandfather is avō...the o pronounced "oh" like in "soul".

 

I have cousins in Turlock who grew up in Azores and they use the words "vovo" and "vava"...sort of like English use of pappy (which my brothers and I called one of my grandfathers) and mammy.  It's interesting the terms we use to describe our loved ones.  I remember as a child being embarrassed to let my school friends know that we called my English grandmother "Gagie" and just where that term came from, I have no idea!

 

Greg Lima

Washington State

[Linda Norton]

 

Only grandmother on my father’s side was here because all the rest was over there and she was called Vavo. My mother wanted my children to call her nana.  I want my grandchildren, when that happens to call me, Vavo. I guess it suppose to be avo (male) and avu (female) when you speak of them. Like mia avo or mia avu.

 

Linda Borges (Furtado) Norton

 

---

[EM8...@aol.com]

Cozinha means Kitchen perhaps that is the word you are thinking of. I recall my family using that word alot.

Connie

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[ohapid...@yahoo.com]

On Apr 17, 9:56 am, <ohapidae-t...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Duarte-Nesmento family - San Miguel, Azores
>

Thanks to all of you for the info!
Yes, the avo with different accents for grandparents! For my
grandfather calling him Voo Voo, we pronounced it with a sound of the
oo like in pool (instead of the oh sound as in soul). Greg Lima...it's
interesting isn't it how diff. families use the words. Bytheway, I
lived in Wa state for 40 years. Em8...I wonder about the cozinha for
kitchen being used to refer to the actual toilet bowl, so I think it
may be another word or possibly slang..it definately had a hard K
sound to it. gaZINKa as far as my memory goes. But my memory does go
at times! William Nascimento...YES, my records show both spellings of
the name and have not been for sure which is accurate. Nascimento, or
Nesmento and one spelling of Naiscimento. This was my grandmother's
name before becoming a Duarte. She had brothers that came to the east
coast and one or two that went to Brazil. One in California (or so I
have been told). Where is your family from?

[maggie...@charter.net]

My Ava and family also used the bathroom word "kazinga" (of course, not spelled correctly, just sounded like that). In looking at the Portuguese dictionary, I am wondering... casa is house, and the "inga" sound at the end was usually for something little... so I wonder if it is a reference to the "little house" or "outhouse" that many homes had in the Azores for bathroom purposes. At least it is my best guess.
My grandmother, Amelia Naciemento, was born in Calheta, Sao Jorge and I also have seen all of those spellings for her name - seems every document spells it differently. I guess we are not the only ones who "sound out the spelling" of things.
Maggie Homen Sutton

[ohapid...@yahoo.com]

Maggie, I think your explantion of kazinga or my gazinka has a high
possibility of being what it is! Glad to find that someone else heard
something similar.
Ahhh your spelling of Naciemento is also in some of my info.

[Jean D]

My great grandfather was Vavoo and my grandmother was Vavoa  I asumed these were portugeese words.

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[rca...@redshift.com]

Maggie

Our family used the same word for the bathroom and I looked it up in the
Portuguese dict. and when it said "kitchen" I laughed myself silly
picturing myself in the Azores asking for a bathroom and ending up in the
Kitchen!!

Rosemarie

[lorraine beaupre]

hello ladies              i grew up with cazinha  as the word for bathroom also  and i''ve said it several times looking for the bathroom and never ended up in the kitchen.          but didn't the kitchen come before the bathroom  . wasen't the bathroom the outhouse, think about it.          Lorraine

[Patricia Butcher]

Hi Loretta,
I remember a word that sounded like "gazinha, kazinha" too. My Pico
Grandmother used it and it meant toilet or bathroom. It must have
been a slang. She also used "water closet" for the bathroom.

Patricia
Las Vegas, NV
Jamestown, RI

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[Maria Sousa]

 

 

That's funny.  When I saw the reference to Cozinha - it brought back a memory for me.

 

I believe my grandmother used to refer to the bathroom as "casinha" as in "little house".  I wonder if that is what you remember.

 

Maria Sousa

 

ohapid...@yahoo.com wrote:

[celeste perry]

I am another who grew up in my grandparents home.
Cazinha (sp?) was the word I learned for toilet. When
I tried to use that in Portugal, I was told that was
an ancient, slang word for toilet. The "correct" work
was retrete.

I also learned coozina (sp?) for kitchen. That one
worked in Portugal to get me to the kitchen! Celeste,
Hayward, CA

Celeste Perry ccgr...@yahoo.com

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[Cakem...@aol.com]

Cozinha means kitchen, but we always referred to the bathroom as the casinha (little house).  I would think that goes back to the time when there was no indoor plumbing and outhouses were used.

 

Mary Ann

[Seek...@aol.com]

I also remember my grandmother using that same word.  It sounded like "cazingha" or "gazingha"  or something like that.  She was refering to the bathroom.  I have since heard a word that sounds pretty much the same, but it means "kitchen".  Is there another word in Portuguese that means the bathroom that sounds similar?

[Luiz Fernando]

Hello friends

May I help?

Kitchen= COZINHA  (Sounds like Cozeeeeeegna)

Bath Room=BANHEIRO(Sounds bungneeeiro)

WC or the place only to wash hands = LAVATORIO or LAVABO

Luiz F.Miller-Mello

Santos SP Brazil (We speak portuguese by here)

----- Original Message -----

From: Seek...@aol.com

To: Azo...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:21 PM

Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Portuguese words

I also remember my grandmother using that same word.  It sounded like "cazingha" or "gazingha"  or something like that.  She was refering to the bathroom.  I have since heard a word that sounds pretty much the same, but it means "kitchen".  Is there another word in Portuguese that means the bathroom that sounds similar?

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[Marr...@cs.com]

In a message dated 4/18/2007 10:40:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time, maggie...@charter.net writes:

My Ava and family also used the bathroom word "kazinga" (of course, not spelled correctly, just sounded like that). In looking at the Portuguese dictionary, I am wondering...  casa is house, and the "inga" sound at the end was usually for something little... so I wonder if it is a reference to the "little house" or "outhouse" that many homes had in the Azores for bathroom purposes.  At least it is my best guess.

You are absolutely correct! Casinha! In Portinglish it was also called o back-aws, i.e., the back house. These words would have been picked up by our ancestors who came to the US during beginning in the early 20th century when many homes still had only rudimentary indoor plumbing even in the mill towns. These words began to disappear (or at least people began to forget their origins) after World War II when by then the back house was quickly becoming a relic of the past.

John

[William Nascimento]

can't resist, sorry...in Portugal, Angola and the Azores (Brazil uses different words for some things)

cozinha -------koo (like cuckoo) (then zinha) the nh or n with ~ on top in spanish is a hard one (no "g" in it though)

casinha ------- kha (Gengis Khan) (then zinha)

cozinha --- kitchen from cozer, to bake in the oven, cozinhar, to cook

casinha ......... means outhouse (small house) http://waltonfeed.com/old/out.html , not bathroom (although old folks from Azores use it to refer to bathroom).............which is "quarto de banho"...."retrete" means toilet (old folks in Azores, in small isolated villages, speak/spoke what Portuguese would refer to as grammatically incorrect Portuguese, sometimes barely understandable accent by folks from Lisbon, just like sometimes difficult to understand Brazilian Portuguese from some areas of Brazil, not large metro areas of course) [I myself used a "casinha" many times, so please don't take offence]

when you need a bathroom in Portugal...ask "con lincença, onde esta o quarto de banho" [with your permission, where is the bathroom]

banheiro is a bathhouse or shower (sometimes there's a bathroom there too)

lavatorio is a place to wash your hands (sometimes there's a bathroom there too) but don't be surprised if go to the lavatoria and there only a wash basin

________________________________

From: Azo...@googlegroups.com on behalf of Luiz Fernando
Sent: Wed 4/18/2007 11:34 AM
To: Azo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Portuguese words

Hello friends
May I help?
Kitchen= COZINHA (Sounds like Cozeeeeeegna)
Bath Room=BANHEIRO(Sounds bungneeeiro)
WC or the place only to wash hands = LAVATORIO or LAVABO
Luiz F.Miller-Mello
Santos SP Brazil (We speak portuguese by here)

----- Original Message -----
From: Seek...@aol.com
To: Azo...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:21 PM
Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Portuguese words

I also remember my grandmother using that same word. It sounded like "cazingha" or "gazingha" or something like that. She was refering to the bathroom. I have since heard a word that sounds pretty much the same, but it means "kitchen". Is there another word in Portuguese that means the bathroom that sounds similar?




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[EM8...@aol.com]

John

I think you are right..I recall my Dad referring to "Kazinga" as the bathroom. As you said they did not have inside bathrooms in the days when he was a child so it would have been the "little house" or "outhouse" I am sure it was a slang version of what we are trying to figure out. Thank you for your input as that is how I remember it.

Connie Maciel Shepherd

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[John Vieira]

My mom lived until just last year about this time. She confirmed that
the word that my grandparents used for bathroom, casinha, really meant
outhouse, a reference to, not only those in the Azores of our
grandparents, but also to those on the farms and dairies in CA up
until about WWII. In some cases, later than that.

But the discussion is an interesting one. As many of you have said,
you may have found yourself somewhat embarrassed by using a word,
while in Lisbon or Angra, that is very old fashioned and/or was slang,
that no longer makes any sense.

I grew up in the Central Valley in the 1950s. As a young man, after
dropping out of school for a couple years, I worked at the Luso-
American office, which was at that time, in the late 60s, in SF. There
were women there who were fairly recent arrivals from various parts of
Portugal and who were well educated in Portugal. They laughed so much
when I used words that my grandmother used including the following:
Casinha, as we mentioned; piz for Portuguese currency or American
currency, for that matter (it had ended with escuros in the 1930s);
Debull meaning stuffing that you put in a turkey (that word really
means the stuff that is in pillows); Derais meaning Portugese penneys
or US penneys; Retrato meaning a photograph. And the "feast de
resistance" was "machine", which is what my grandfather called his
car. They really got a kick out of this. I was embarrassed but
learned to laugh with them. Whenever I came back to work in the City
after a weekend at home in the Valley, they would ask me for more
words from Grandma.

On Apr 18, 1:18 pm, EM8...@aol.com wrote:
> John
> I think you are right..I recall my Dad referring to "Kazinga" as the
> bathroom. As you said they did not have inside bathrooms in the days when he was a
> child so it would have been the "little house" or "outhouse" I am sure it was
> a slang version of what we are trying to figure out. Thank you for your input
> as that is how I remember it.
> Connie Maciel Shepherd
>

> ************************************** See what's free athttp://www.aol.com.

[Alvin Goularte]

John, your letter really brought me a great smile.  I too  grew up and am still here in the Central Valley.  You are talking about the California Portuguese that I learned to speak as a kid.  Of course some of my friends call It Californiacated Portuguese. 

 

Al

John Vieira <johna...@gmail.com> wrote:

[lorraine beaupre]

dear luiz i need to find out how long there has pineapple plantations there i believe my granfather once was a pineapple plantation forman  then moved to the azore to work in tha pineapple plantations there. is there a way this can be traced  his name was jose couto machado or jose machado decurto he never came to the states . its believed he died somewhere around 1909. he was married to maria caroline medeiros brilhante. her last child was born in faja de sima  10 jan 1910. and she and my father his nephew and two sisters came here  or actually arrived    17may  1914.                thank you  lorraine machado beaupre

[lorraine beaupre]

 I'm so thrilled to find out so much information about  the toilet  now  how do I ask for toilet paper?                      lmb

William Nascimento <William.N...@lanengineering.com> wrote:

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[celeste perry]

John,
I learned all the words you mentioned. I lived "in
the City" of Hayward; however, my grandparents were
from Tras-os-Montes (a very remote, isolated area even
today) and Terceira. They immigrated in 1915 and that
was the way they spoke. Neither could read or write
so they never changed their vocabulary. Celeste,
Hayward, CA.

[Norma Quinton]

William
thank you for your translations.
I hope to someday learn the language.
It seems that each package I purchase is Brazilian Portuguese.
I do hope that if I do learn just a little of the language that I will be
able to converse with folks in the Azores.

Norma L Quinton