tard

Forms

tard^[1] Old Catalan wrote tart as well as tard.^[2][3]

Etymology

The adverb is inherited from Old Catalan tart, inherited from Latin tardē (“slowly; late”), the adverb of tardus (“slow”).^{[1][3][4][5][6]} The DCVB derives the old adjective ⟨tard⟩ “slow” from the Latin adjective and the adverb from the Latin adverb.^[4]

The same Latin adverb is Italian tardi, Spanish tarde and Portuguese tarde.^[7][8] Wiktionary and the DHLF also trace French tard to the adverb, while the REW lists it, with Occitan tard, under the adjective.^[9][1][10]

De Vaan finds no etymology for the Latin adjective, and rejects as unconvincing its comparison with Ancient Greek τέρυ (téru, “weak”) and an Indic word for “young”.^[11] Wiktionary derives it from *terh₂- (“to cross over”), noting that de Vaan doubts it.^[1]

The noun tarda “afternoon” is a reduction of the old phrase ⟨hora tarda⟩, strengthened by the Spanish noun.^[6] Tardor “autumn” comes from tardātiō (“delay”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Jaume I's chronicle envoys say they will send their gift in the morning, since lavores era tart, it was then late in the day.^[2] Coromines dates the word to the 13th century and notes that the adverb is found in abundance from then on;^[3][4] Llull's Fèlix has tart era com poguessen percassar vianda, it was too late to find food.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides “late”, the medieval adverb often meant “rarely, hardly”: Tart cavalca bé qui en l'estrep no li creix lo peu, says a Catalan collection of Arab proverbs, and Metge (1381) writes that freedom is fort tart found in marriage.^[2][3] A tart meant “seldom” in Llull's Fèlix and in Vicent Ferrer's sermons.^[3][2]

The adjective tard, tarda “slow, sluggish” was more literary and much less frequent than the adverb: a maxim tells one to be tart a parlar et tart a ira, and Ausiàs March and Joanot Martorell use it.^[2][3] Coromines rejects the DCVB's medieval senses “dull-witted” and “rare” for the adjective, since the passages quoted read otherwise.^[3] The adjective is still used in literature, though seldom.^[3]

The derivatives followed early: tardar in Llull, tardança in 1352, tardà and tardor in Pou's thesaurus of 1575.^[6] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 records fer tard “to be late”, cap al tard “towards evening” and de tard en tard “now and then”.^[12] As a noun, el tard is the late part of the day, and figuratively the last part of life.^[13][5]

Timeline

• 1244–1274 – Jaume I's chronicle: lavores era tart.^[2]
• 1310 – tard in Arnau de Vilanova's Raonament d'Avinyó, the earliest form so spelt in CICA.^[14]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge: fort tart es en matrimoni.^[2]
• 1460 – Jaume Roig's Spill: si tart venia, pus tart n'exia.^[3]
• 1575 – arribar tart in Pou's thesaurus;^[3][6] tardà and tardor first recorded.^[3][6]
• 1932 – Fabra lists fer tard, cap al tard and de tard en tard.^[12]

Meanings

Adverb

1. late, after the proper or usual time: Sempre arriba tard a les reunions.^[15][5]
2. At a late hour, as opposed to d'hora: Ja és tard; anem a dormir.^[15][5]

Noun

1. The end of the afternoon, the evening;^[13][5] cap al tard, towards evening.^[13][5]
2. (figurative) The last part of life.^[13]

Adjective

1. (literary, archaic) slow, sluggish.^[5][3]

Word family

• tarda
• tardà
• tardanament
• tardanies
• tardar
• retardar
• atardar
• tardança
• tardejar
• tardívol
• tardor

Related words

• Latin tardus
• Spanish tarde
• French tard

Usage notes

Fer tard means to arrive late, més tard later on, and al més tard at the latest.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. tard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. 8, 306
4. ^ 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. tard
5. ^ 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. tard
6. ^ a b c d e f Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 880
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8573
8. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8577
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. tard
13. ^ a b c d Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. tard
14. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. tard
15. ^ a b c 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. tard