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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word gratar

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1817 the Academy's dictionary More words from the 19th century
Borrowed from
French gratter
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *krattōną

Pronunciation

  • /ɡɾaˈtaɾ/, [ɡɾaˈt̪aɾ][1]

Forms

gratar (first-person singular present grato, first-person singular preterite graté, past participle gratado)[1]

Etymology

Corominas takes it borrowed from French gratter (“to scratch”), and calls it a recent Gallicism that never took root, or a technical term.[2] The DLE and Wiktionary derive it instead borrowed from Occitan gratar (“to scratch”).[3][1] The verb is native, meaning “to scratch”, in Italian (grattare), French, Occitan and Catalan (gratar); in these languages too it may be an early loan from West Germanic.[2]

The Romance verb is from Germanic, probably Frankish *krattōn (“to scratch”), the source of Old High German krazzōn and German kratzen, with Danish kratte and Swedish kratta beside it.[2][4] Guiraud's derivation from Latin cratire (“to harrow”) is a minority view.[4] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic *krattōną and Proto-Indo-European *gred-.[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the Academy's dictionary of 1817, where the word belongs to the silversmiths: to give lustre and a deep colour to gilded pieces by burnishing them with the gratas, wire brushes.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The edition of 1843 added the cleaning of silver and gold pieces with the brush.[7] The Academy first gave an etymology in 1899, from French gratter;[8][9][10] Alemany in 1917 and the Academy in 2001 preferred Provençal, and the DLE now says Occitan.[8][9][10][3] The noun grata for the brush, which the DLE derives from the verb, is recorded earlier, in Terreros.[2][11] Today the verb means only to clean or burnish with the grata.[3][12]

Timeline

  • 1786–1793 – Terreros records the noun grata.[2]
  • 1817 – first record of the verb, in the Academy's dictionary, as a silversmiths' term.[2][6]
  • 1843 – the Academy adds the cleaning of silver and gold pieces.[7]
  • 1899 – the Academy derives it from French gratter.[8]
  • 1917 – Alemany derives it from Provençal.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To clean or burnish with a grata, a wire brush: El platero grató la bandeja antes de entregarla.[3][1]

Word family

  • grata
  • French gratter
  • Catalan gratar
  • Italian grattare

Usage notes

In Aragon gratar means “to scratch gently”;[13] Borao called it an Italianism.[13] Judeo-Spanish has gratar “to scratch”.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 201
  3. ^ a b c d 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. gratar
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gratter
  5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. krattōn
  6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 450
  7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 371
  8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 502
  9. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 848
  10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. gratar
  11. ^ 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. grata
  12. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gratar
  13. ^ a b Borao, Jerónimo (1908), Diccionario de voces aragonesas, 2nd ed., Zaragoza: Imprenta del Hospicio Provincial, p. 15
  14. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. gratar

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Gratar.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/gratar. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·