Security policy

The eleventh entry is o controlo de armamento, and English renders it « arms control », with a noun every reader already knows from the body. The two are not one word. The limb comes down from Old English earm, inherited with the language and cousin to the German Arm; the weapons arrived far later from Latin arma by way of French, and they arrived already in the plural, which is why nobody ever says « an arm » when weapons are meant. The two families keep their own phrases and never lend. From the borrowed side come « to bear arms », « a coat of arms », « the arms race », « up in arms » and this entry’s own « arms control ». From the inherited side come « arm in arm », « at arm’s length » and « to twist somebody’s arm ». Portuguese is spared the question, because as armas and o braço share neither a sound nor a letter. So the English reader carries a small piece of knowledge the Portuguese one never needs: in « the right to bear arms » there is no limb at all.