sortella

From Old Galician-Portuguese sortella (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Vulgar Latin *sorticula, a diminutive from sors (“luck, fate”), but suffixed with -ella. Cognate with Portuguese sortilha and Spanish sortija.

Semantic connection seems to relate to superstitious beliefs concerning rings.

• IPA^(key): /soɾˈteʎa̝/

sortella f (plural sortellas)

1. ring

   Synonym: anel

   • 1433, A. López Ferreiro, editor, Fueros municipales de Santiago y de su tierra, Madrid: Ediciones Castilla, page 493:

     yten hordenamos e por ben temos que ningún, nen alguos oficiaas que labrar contas ou fezer labrar ou vender de azabache, que non seja ousado de soldar, nen juntar peça nenhua, conben a saver, ymagen de santiago, nen crucifixo, nen conchas, nen contas, nen sortellas, nen outra pesa nenhua que seja quebrada con betume, nen con cola, nen con solda, nen quon outra cousa

     item, we order and pleases us that no one, neither some officials who carve beans or order to carve or sell jet, should dare to solder not joint any piece, that is: neither image of Saint James, nor crucifix, nor shells, nor beans, nor rings, nor any other broken thing, with bitumen, nor glue, nor solder, nor with any other thing

2. ferrule

• “sortella” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “sortella” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “sortella” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “sortella” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “sortella” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.