Etymology of Malandro / Etimologia de Malandro

[English version below]

Tava ouvindo isso:

E pensei: bem... malandro é uma palavra comum no país inteiro. Deve ter origem européia [com acento!] mesmo (nada de influência indígena ou africana). Fui atrás:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malandro

< --- vem de malandrino

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malandrino

< --- vem da mesma palavra em italiano

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malandrino#Italian (mesmo link)

Quem diria? Vem de mal (ruim mesmo) + *landrino, esse último de origem germânica!

[claro, claro... minha fonte foi o Wiktionary. Não muito confiável, mas achei legal a história]

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[Versão em Português acima]

I was hearing this:

And then thought: well... malandro[1] is a common word in the entire country. It must have some european origin then (no indigenous or african influence[2]). Searched for it:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malandro

< --- comes from malandrino

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malandrino

< --- comes from the same word in Italian

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malandrino#Italian (same link)

Who would tell? It comes from mal (bad) + *landrino, the latter from germanic origin!

[of course, of course... my source was the Wiktionary. Not that trustworthy, but I found the history nice]

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Post-scripta:

[1]: in Portuguese, nowadays, it means someone who is "smart", who may try to fool you. In the past (i.e., ~1950s), it meant exactly what the English definition of the Wiktionary says: A young criminal, punk or thug [...] conscious of image and status; preoccupied with projecting coolness and non-conformity, and willing to use violence to establish social status.

[2]: "outsiders" (non-Brazilians) normally don't realize the extent of the importance of these two groups in our culture. Half of our population has some african ascent, and words from african languages abound in our Portuguese. Indigenous words are also common (though the influence is way more constrained -- at least in my region).