pasto

Forms

pasto m (plural pastos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāstus (“feeding; pasture, fodder”), an action noun formed on the past participle of pāscō (“to feed, graze”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Portuguese pasto, Catalan past, Occitan past, Italian pasto and French pât (“feed for dogs or birds”).^[6][7] The verb pacer continues the Latin verb, and pastor and pastura are other Latin words of the same family.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from a charter of 1209 in Oelschläger's list, and then from Berceo.^[2][3] In Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236) the young shepherd Domingo dávalis pastos buenos “gave them good pastures”, his sheep.^[8] Charters of 1243 and 1244 list prados, pastos, rios and fuentes among the lands sold or given.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense of something consumed by an agent is already in the General estoria (1280): assi son pastos de los ricos los pobres “so the poor are the food of the rich”.^[9] Nebrija gave the Latin pastus, pascua and pabulum.^[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades recorded the action of grazing, the grass, human food, quoting el buen pasto from the Quijote, and in falconry the portion given to a bird at one time.^[11] The Academy added pasto espiritual “religious teaching” and the adverbial phrases a pasto “to one's fill” and a todo pasto in 1817.^[12] Alemany recorded de pasto “for everyday use”, as in vino de pasto “table wine”.^[13]

The verb pastar is recorded from about 1590 in José de Acosta; in Argentina and elsewhere it has wholly replaced pacer.^[2][3] In much of Latin America pasto is the ordinary word for lawn grass.^[4][14] In the slang of Honduras, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Bolivia it is marijuana, especially of poor quality.^[14][15] In the Canaries it means dry fodder, and in Tenerife a stretch of seabed covered with seagrass.^[16]

Timeline

• 1209 – first record, in a charter.^[2][3]
• c. 1236 – Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos has pastos buenos.^[8]
• 1243 – a sale charter lists prados, pastos, rios.^[8]
• 1280 – the General estoria uses the figurative “prey, food”.^[9]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin pastus, pascua and pabulum.^[10]
• 1515 – first record from the Americas: pastos, riberas, montes in Tierra Firme.^[17]
• c. 1590 – the verb pastar in José de Acosta.^[2][3]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the falconry sense.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy adds pasto espiritual and a todo pasto.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin pastus.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action of grazing (pastar).^[4]
2. Grass that livestock eat where it grows; pasture.^[4][1]
3. Anything that serves as food for an animal; fodder.^[4]
4. (usually plural) Land where livestock graze: Los pastos de montaña alimentan a las vacas en verano.^[4][1]
5. Material that feeds something that consumes it, as fuel feeds fire: El granero fue pasto de las llamas.^[4][19]
6. A fact, piece of news or occasion that feeds something: Sus declaraciones dieron pasto a los periodistas.^[4]
7. (hunting) The portion of food given to a bird at one time.^[4]
8. (Latin America) Lawn (césped), grass.^[4][14][1]
9. (Honduras, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Bolivia; slang) marijuana, especially of poor quality.^[14]

Word family

• pastar
• pastizal
• pastadero

Related words

• pacer
• pastor
• pastura
• Latin pastus
• Portuguese pasto

Usage notes

The DLE has two more headwords pasto: one, from the place name Pasto, names an Amerindian people of northern Ecuador and the Colombian province of Pasto and their language; the other, taken from the English name of the language, Pashto, is another word for pastún.^[4][1] Pasto is also a form of the verb pastar.^[1] Common phrases are pasto espiritual “spiritual nourishment” and a todo pasto “without limit”.^[4][19]

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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 331
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pacer
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. pasto
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4843
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
9. ^ a b 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. pasto
10. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 394
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 159
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 647
13. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1275
14. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
15. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. pasto
16. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org
17. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 798
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos