batre

Forms

batre (first-person singular present bato, first-person singular preterite batí, past participle batut)^[1] The final vowel is [ə] in Central, Balearic and Northern Catalan and [e] in North-Western and Valencian.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin battō (“to beat”), the later form of battuō.^{[3][2][4][5][1]}

The same Latin verb is Occitan batre, French battre, Italian battere, Spanish batir, Portuguese bater and Romanian bate.^[3][6] Coromines notes that it heads a large family of derivatives in every Romance language, most of all in Catalan and the languages to its east and north, while in Spanish the simple verb has much less vitality.^[3][7]

The verb never appears in truly classical Latin texts, though it is recorded without a break from Plautus onwards, always in low, colourful or obscene contexts; the reduction of ⟨battuere⟩ to ⟨battere⟩ is general, and Fronto already uses ⟨battere⟩ in the 2nd century.^[3][8] Coromines argues that initial /b/ was very rare in the inherited Latin vocabulary, so that ⟨battuere⟩ must have been taken from a neighbouring Indo-European language, a word of slaves, soldiers and gladiators;^[3][4][5] Bruguera and the GDLC name Celtic as the likely source.^[3][4][5] Wiktionary calls the origin unknown, perhaps Gaulish or Germanic.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines dates the first records to the end of the 13th century, often in the Roussillon Vides de sants: eu per vosaltres són batut e flagellat “for you I am beaten and scourged”.^[3] Llull's Blanquerna has two clerics who strike a canon and beat him badly.^[3][9] The first sense is beating a person or an animal.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The medieval texts already have most of the technical senses: threshing grain (Eiximenis has lo segar e l batre done in fifteen days), overrunning an enemy country (Muntaner's bate tota la Calabria), minting coins, and beating or whisking a liquid in a Valencian recipe book.^[10] Aguiló adds beating wool when a mattress is remade and knocking down carobs, olives, walnuts and almonds.^[11]

Gual Camarena records the leather-workers' use, to beat the hide.^[12] Pal·las adds the beating of the heart.^[13]

The family is wide: abatre (1312), batolla (1380), debatre (about 1380, Eiximenis), combatre (14th century, Llull), batedor (1575) and bategar (1840).^[4]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Roussillon Vides de sants: batut e flagellat.^[3]
• late 13th century – Llull's Blanquerna and Llibre de contemplació.^[9]
• 1325 – Muntaner: bate tota la Calabria.^[10]
• 1381 – Eiximenis: lo segar e l batre.^[10]
• 1932 – Fabra records batre la llana and batre moneda.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To strike repeatedly, especially as a working process; to beat.^[15][5]
2. (agriculture) To thresh, separate the grain from the ear or the pod by beating or by machine: A l'era baten el blat.^[15][5]
3. (agriculture) To knock fruit such as carobs, olives or almonds off the tree with a pole; to batollar.^[15][5]
4. To work a metal with a hammer;^[15][10] batre moneda, to mint coins.^[15][10]
5. batre el tambor: to beat the drum;^[15] (intransitive) of drums, to sound.^[15]
6. To beat or whisk eggs, cream and the like;^[15] batre la llana, to fluff up wool with a stick.^[15]
7. To beat a person;^[2][1] (pronominal) to fight.^[2][1]

Word family

• abatre
• bat
• batedor
• bategar
• batent
• batolla
• batollar
• batussa
• batut
• debatre
• esbatre
• rebatre

Related words

• batuta
• batalla
• combatre
• Latin battuō
• Occitan batre
• French battre

Usage notes

Fabra quotes the proverb qui no bat pel juliol no bat quan vol “who does not thresh in July does not thresh when he wants”.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. batre
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 1, 728
4. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 112
5. ^ a b c d e f Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. batre
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 544
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. batre
10. ^ a b c d e Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. batre
11. ^ Aguiló i Fuster, Marià (1914–1934), Diccionari Aguiló: materials lexicogràfics, ed. Pompeu Fabra and Manuel de Montoliu, 8 vols., Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. 2
12. ^ Gual Camarena, Miguel, Vocabulario del comercio medieval, online edition, Universidad de Murcia, https://www.um.es/lexico-comercio-medieval, p. s.v. batre
13. ^ Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. batre
14. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. batre
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. batre