padrastro

Forms

padrastro m (plural padrastros, feminine madrastra, feminine plural madrastras)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write padastro and padrasto.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish padrastro, inherited from Vulgar Latin patraster (“stepfather”).^[4][5][1] The Latin word is formed from pater (“father”) with the disparaging suffix -aster.^[4][1] Gómez de Silva notes that the Latin word had meant “father-in-law”, and took the sense “stepfather” on the model of filiaster (“stepson”).^[6] Medieval glossaries give it as the equivalent of vitricus (“stepfather”).^[7]

The same word is French parâtre, Occitan pairastre, Catalan parastre and Portuguese padrasto.^[8][9] Within Spanish the word now reads as padre with the suffix -astro, as in the feminine madrastra.^[1][10] The Latin word for “father” goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218 to about 1250), in a chapter heading on the division of an inheritance among the heirs, the stepmother and the padrastro.^[2] The Fuero de Brihuega (c. 1242) has it in the same legal sense of the mother's husband.^[2][12] Corominas dates the word 1335.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 explains the stepfather as the second husband, so called because he succeeds the father, and records a transferred sense: a height or obstacle in front of a fortress or town from which enemies can attack it.^[13] He accounts for it by the stepson's fear that his stepfather may do him harm.^[13] Autoridades (1737) has the stepfather, any obstacle that hinders or harms, and the hill that commands a fortress, with a quotation from Mariana.^[14][15]

Terreros (1786–1793) is the first dictionary here to record the small strip of skin that lifts beside the nail, the hangnail.^[16] The Academy in 1884 lists all these senses, with “bad father” as a figurative one and two senses of thieves' slang, “prosecutor” and “opposing lawyer”.^[10] Today's dictionary keeps the stepfather, the bad father, the obstacle, the hangnail and the commanding height.^[4]

Timeline

• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has padrastro.^[2]
• c. 1242 – the Fuero de Brihuega, DEMel's first record.^[12]
• 1251–1255 – Alfonso X's Fuero Real has the variant padastro.^[2]
• 1335 – Corominas's date for the word.^[5]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin vitricus.^[17]
• 1546 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, in a figurative sense.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the sense “height that threatens a fortress”.^[13]
• 1737 – Autoridades adds “obstacle, hindrance”.^[14]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros records the hangnail.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stepfather: the mother's husband in relation to her children from an earlier union: Se llevaba muy bien con su padrastro.^[4][1]
2. A bad father.^[4]
3. An obstacle or drawback that hinders or harms something.^[4][14]
4. A hangnail: a small strip of skin that lifts beside a fingernail and hurts.^[4][1]
5. (military) A height that commands a fortified place; dominación.^[4][19]

Related words

• madrastra
• padre
• Portuguese padrasto

Usage notes

The hangnail is also called repelo or respigón.^[19][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. padrastro
3. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. padrastro
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. padrastro
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. padre
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 516
7. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. patraster
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6296
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4849
10. ^ 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. 772
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. pater
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. padrastro
13. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1183
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 72
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. padrastro
16. ^ a b c Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 3
17. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. padrastro
18. ^ 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. padastro
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. padrastro