xenreira

Galician

Alternative forms

• senreira, sinreira, xanreira

Etymology

Unknown. Attested since circa 1750. Perhaps from an older *renxeira, from renxer (“to grind one's teeth”), but the earlier attestations, until the last quarter of the 19th century, are always spelled senreira, sinreira, not xenreira, which makes this proposal unlikely.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʃenˈrejɾɐ]

Noun

xenreira f (plural xenreiras)

1. hatred, grudge, rancour, spite
   • 1877, O Tio Marcos da Portela, 39, p. 155:

     O outro día pola mañá cedo, o rapaz achegouse onda min qu'inda estaba no leito, e dixome: «meu pai; voulle collendo unha xenreira ós que viven na ciudá, que si pillo a un solo nun carreiro, sobolle as costelas canto pódea»

     The other day, early in the morning, my child came to me, I was still in bed, and told me: «my father; I'm growing such a grudge against the ones living in the city that if I find one alone at a road, I'll knead his ribs as much as I can»

   • 1934, Castelao, Os dous de sempre, page 127:

     […] os empregados non se deixan asoballar pola súa maldade, e o mesmo porteiro deprendeu a poñerlle cara de can. Somente Pedro é un manteiguiñas, incapaz de defenderse. A covardía do xefe cabalga na covardía de Pedro, para locí-las arroutadas que non é quen de descargar no lombo dos outros. Pedro sofre en silenzo; pero cóme-no as xenreiras, e non pode ollá-la cara daquel home sen desexarlle a morte.

     […] employees don't allow him to humiliate them with his meanness, and even the doorman learnt to put an angry face for him. But Pedro is a poor thing, unable to defend himself. The boss' cowardice rides Pedro's, to show off the outbursts that he is incapable of discharging over other's shoulders. Pedro suffers in silence; but spite eats him, and he can't watch that man's face without wishing him death.

References

• “sinreira” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “xenreira” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “xenreira” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.