dret

Forms

dret (feminine dreta, masculine plural drets, feminine plural dretes)^[1] The word has had the cluster dr- in every period and every dialect of Catalan, as far as the westernmost fringe, where Roda de Ribagorça says drétos for the masculine plural.^[2] In the Maestrat the final consonant is voiced before a vowel, as in dred a Penyagolosa “straight to Penyagolosa”.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan dret, which is inherited from Vulgar Latin *drēctus, a contracted form of dīrēctus (“straight, direct”).^[2][3][1] The Latin word was the participle of dīrigō (“to direct”), formed on regō (“to guide, rule”);^[2][3] Latin manuscripts write both ⟨derectus⟩ and ⟨directus⟩ with the same meaning.^[2][3]

Coromines explains the contraction by the merger of the two vowels of the first syllable, and finds it in Latin texts from Gaul from early on: Merovingian and Carolingian formulas write ⟨drictum⟩.^[2] Wiktionary gives the Late Latin form as drictus, recorded from the 5th century.^[1] The contracted form is the one most of the Romance languages continue: Romanian drept, Italian dritto, French droit, Occitan drech and Old Spanish drecho, while Spanish derecho and Portuguese direito keep the longer form.^[2][4]

As a noun, the substantivised adjective took the place of the classical word for law, iūs, in Late Latin.^[5][4] The learned directe is a doublet, taken from the same Latin word and recorded in 1450.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are feudal complaints and oaths: CICA's earliest text with the word is the Greuges de Guitard Isarn of 1080–1095, and an oath from the Vallespir of about 1088 promises help per dreta fide “in right faith”.^[6][2] In these early texts the word is mostly moral and abstract: “just, correct”, and as a noun “justice, the laws”.^[2] The phrase fermar dret, “to submit to judgement”, appears in documents from the Segarra and the Conca de Tremp, the latter dated 1242.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The physical senses, “straight, not bent” and “upright”, are as old in the literature as the moral ones;^[7] Llull contrasts trees that are drets with those that are torts.^[7] The noun covered justice, a right one may claim, the law as a body and its study, and also a tax or duty: Eiximenis lists tolls and other drets that may be levied unjustly.^[8][5] From the adjective came the sense “on the right-hand side”, opposed to esquerre, and the use for the better-finished face of a fabric, opposed to revés or envés;^[5][8] Jaume Roig and the Tirant lo Blanc have dret e envers in 1460.^[5][8]

Used as an adverb the word meant “straight, directly”, and it gave the phrase dret a “towards, straight to”, which is also heard in Upper Aragon.^[2][8] A dretes “on purpose” has been used by some writers as a calque of Spanish adrede, but Coromines notes a more genuine older use with the sense “openly, deliberately”.^[2] Among the derivatives, dreçar is recorded in 1129 and endreçar in the 14th century.^[9]

Timeline

• 1080–1095 – dret in the Greuges de Guitard Isarn, the complaints of the lord of Caboet.^[6]
• c. 1088 – per dreta fide in a feudal oath from the Vallespir.^[2]
• 1242 – que·m fermàs dret, in a document from the Conca de Tremp.^[2]
• 1272 – Llull uses dret for the law one studies, in the Fèlix.^[8]
• 1381 – Eiximenis writes of drets reals o personals, taxes and duties.^[8]
• 1450 – the learned doublet directe appears in a document.^[2]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary defines the noun first as the power to claim what is owed.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. straight, not changing direction from one end to the other.^[3][11]
2. upright, vertical; standing: Vam fer tot el viatge drets.^[11][5]
3. right, on the right-hand side, opposed to esquerre: Em fa mal el genoll dret.^[11][5]
4. Just, in keeping with reason or the moral law.^[3][5]
5. Of a fabric or object: on its finished side, opposed to revés.^[5]

Noun

1. A right: the power to claim what is owed, or to do what the law allows: Tots tenim dret a ser escoltats.^[12][11]
2. law, the body of rules that governs a society: dret civil, dret canònic.^[3][5]
3. Law as a science and a subject of study.^[3]
4. (in the plural) A duty or tax charged on goods, or a fee for certain services.^[5][8]

Adverb

1. Straight, directly: de dret, anar dret a l'escola.^[11][8]

Word family

• dreta
• dretà
• dreter
• dretura
• dretament
• dreçar
• adreçar
• drecera
• endreçar
• adret
• condret

Related words

• indret
• directe
• Latin dīrēctus
• Occitan drech
• Spanish derecho

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. 3, 200
3. ^ a b c d e f g Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. dret
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2648
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. dret
6. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. dret
7. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. dret
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. dret
9. ^ Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 786
10. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. dret
11. ^ a b c d e Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. dret
12. ^ 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. dret