catre

Forms

catre m (plural catres)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Portuguese catre, from Tamil கட்டில் (kaṭṭil, “bed, couch”).^[2][3][4][1] The Tamil word is related to Sanskrit खट्वा (khaṭvā, “bed, bedstead”).^[2][5] Corominas thinks the Sanskrit words are more likely to come from the Dravidian languages than the reverse, though the origin of the Tamil word is not well established.^[2] Portuguese had the variants cátele (1510), cátere (1535) and the present form (1525), and Spanish took the word from Portuguese.^[2][6] Wiktionary compares the English word cot, which comes from the same Sanskrit source through Hindi खाट (khāṭ).^[1]

In the Portuguese travellers to India the word named a rope hammock, a low folding bed brought from China and the throne of the kings of Malabar.^[2] Its use among sailors of the India trade fixed it in the sense “rough, poor bed”, as used on board ship.^[2] French cadre “sailor's bed” (Littré, 1863), which J. Storm took for the source, is an alteration of the Portuguese and Spanish word.^[2] Catalan and Sardinian catre come from Spanish.^[2] Corominas finds the likeness to Ancient Greek κράββατος (krábbatos, “pallet”), the source of Latin grabatus, accidental.^[2]

Older explanations are now abandoned: the Academy derived the word in 1884 from cuatro, after the four poles of its frame, and in 1899 after its four legs.^[7][8] Eguílaz proposed an Arabic word for the wood of a bed, and Echegaray a form of cólcedra.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from Cristóbal de Acosta in 1578;^[2][3] Covarrubias (1611) and Ordóñez de Ceballos (1614) also use it.^[2][3] The sense was a light bed for one person.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades described it as a small bed on legs, often with posts for curtains, made of poles that fold so that it can be carried on journeys.^[11] The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century repeated that it was a light bed for one, usually of strong canvas, with posts, folding frames or other shapes.^[12][13] From 1899 they also defined the catre de tijera, with a canvas or rope bed on two crossed pairs of legs that fold.^[8]

The first record in the Americas is from New Granada in 1683.^[14] In Argentina the word also names a raft of logs, or each of the rafts tied together to make one.^[2][15] In the Canaries a folding bed is a catre de viento (1859), a term also used in Venezuela.^[16][17] In Puerto Rico cambiar el catre means “to change the subject” or “to move house”.^[18][19] In Cuba the word also names a deckchair.^[20]

In colloquial Spain and the River Plate the word is used for any bed, and llevarse al catre means “to get someone into bed”.^[20][21][22] Spanish passed the word to Tagalog and Cebuano as katre.^[1]

Timeline

• 1510 – Portuguese cátele, the oldest form of the word.^[2][6]
• 1525 – Portuguese catre.^[2]
• 1578 – first record in Spanish, in Cristóbal de Acosta.^[2][3]
• 1611 – used by Covarrubias.^[2]
• 1683 – first record in the Americas, in New Granada.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as a folding bed for journeys.^[11]
• 1859 – catre de viento in the Canaries.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from cuatro.^[7]
• 2001 – the Academy gives its origin as Portuguese catre.^[23]

Meanings

Noun

1. A light, simple bed for one person, often folding; a cot.^[4][21]
2. (colloquial) A bed: Estoy rendido, me voy al catre.^[20][1]
3. (Cuba) A deckchair.^[20]
4. (Argentina) A raft of logs.^[15][19]
5. (Philippines) A bed.^[1]

Related words

• Portuguese catre
• English cot

Usage notes

The folding kind is the catre de tijera.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 925
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. catre
4. ^ a b c 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, p. s.v. catre
5. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. catre
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 227
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 210
9. ^ Eguílaz y Yanguas, Leopoldo de (1886), Glosario etimológico de las palabras españolas (castellanas, catalanas, gallegas, mallorquinas, portuguesas, valencianas y bascongadas) de origen oriental, Granada: La Lealtad, p. 389
10. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 176
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 234
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 189
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 163
14. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. catre
15. ^ a b Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 103
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. catre
17. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. catre
18. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1999), Vocabulario de Puerto Rico, critical ed. by Humberto López Morales, Madrid: Arco/Libros (1st ed. 1937), p. 135
19. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 335
20. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. catre
21. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. catre
22. ^ León, Víctor (1980), Diccionario de argot español y lenguaje popular, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, p. s.v. catre
23. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. catre