tostar

Forms

tostar (first-person singular present tuesto, first-person singular preterite tosté, past participle tostado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish tostar, inherited from Late Latin tostō (“to roast, parch”).^[2][3][4][1] The DCECH calls it a Vulgar Latin frequentative of torreō (“to scorch, roast”), found in antiquity only in a late author full of vulgarisms, Plinius Valerianus.^[2][5] Wiktionary derives it from tostus (“roasted”), the past participle of the same verb.^[1]

The same verb is Italian tostare and Portuguese tostar.^[6][2] Occitan torrar, Catalan torrar and Galician torrar continue the Latin verb itself.^[2] Spanish had such a form too: Berceo uses Old Spanish turrado figuratively for “dazed”, Covarrubias defines turrar as roasting on the embers, and torrar survives in Asturias, Andalusia and Judeo-Spanish.^[2][3] Crossed with that verb, it gave tusturrar in Soria.^[2][7]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *torzeō, from Proto-Indo-European *tors-éye-ti, a causative of the root *ters- (“dry”); the participle stands for an older *torstus.^[1][8] De Vaan's cognates include Ancient Greek τέρσομαι (térsomai, “to become dry”) and Old High German derren (“to make dry”).^[8] In the forms stressed on the stem ⟨o⟩ becomes ⟨ue⟩ (first person tuesto), a change the Diccionario de Autoridades already noted as an anomaly.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH's first record is Berceo, dated 1220–1250 by the BDELC.^[2][3] In the Martirio de San Lorenzo the word describes the saint on the gridiron: ardié el cuerpo sancto de la grant calentura, de lo que se tostava firvié la assadura “the holy body burned with the great heat; where it was roasting, the flesh seethed”.^[10] The cookery sense “to toast until coloured” appears in the Moamín (1250): tuesten el culantro fasta que·s queme “let them toast the coriander until it browns”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish already used the verb of the sun tanning the skin: in the General Estoria (c. 1275) someone is told to go into the shade at noon por non te quemar nin te tostar “so as not to burn or scorch yourself”.^[11][10] An ordinance on shoemakers of 1259–1270 forbids toasting leather at the fire.^[12][10] Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as roasting on the embers and calls tostada a slice of bread toasted to be dipped in wine.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives the sense of putting something to the fire until it takes colour without burning, and the figurative “to heat too strongly, as the sun does in summer”.^[9] The Academy's 1884 edition derives it from tostum, the supine of torrere.^[14]

In the Americas toasted maize is mentioned in Michoacán in 1541.^[15] Modern regional senses include “to beat, thrash” in Chile and Puerto Rico, “to get angry” in Bolivia and Chile, “to go mad” in the Antilles and Ecuador, and “to kill” in Honduras and Colombia.^[4][16] In Asturian tostar means “to fry”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[2][3]
• 1250 – the Moamín uses it for toasting coriander.^[10][11]
• 1259–1270 – an ordinance on shoemakers has tuestan “they toast” of leather.^[12]
• c. 1275 – the General Estoria uses it of the sun burning the skin.^[11]
• c. 1490 – the derivative tostada is first recorded, in the Celestina.^[2]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin torreo as its equivalent.^[17]
• 1541 – toasted maize in a text from Michoacán, Mexico.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as roasting on embers.^[13]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the figurative “to heat too strongly”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also pronominal) To toast: to put something near the fire so that it dries slowly and takes colour without burning: Tuesta las almendras en una sartén sin aceite.^[4][18][1]
2. (transitive, also pronominal) To heat too much.^[4]
3. (transitive, also pronominal) Of the sun or wind: to tan the skin, or, as tostarse, to get brown in the sun.^[4][18][1]
4. (bullfighting) To condemn a bull for its tameness to the fire banderillas.^[4]
5. (Chile, Puerto Rico) To thrash, beat.^[4][16]
6. (Chile, pronominal) To get angry.^[4][16]
7. (colloquial, Antilles, pronominal) Of a person: to go mad.^[4][16]

Word family

• tostada
• tostado
• retostado
• tostón
• tueste
• tostación
• tostadero
• tostador
• tostadora
• tostadura

Related words

• torrar
• tórrido
• Latin torreō

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 g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 568
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tostar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. tostar
5. ^ 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. tostare
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. tostāre
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 6771
8. ^ a b 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. torreō
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 310
10. ^ 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. tostar
11. ^ a b c d 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. tostar
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. tostar
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1341
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1037
15. ^ 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. tostar
16. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. tostar
17. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 423
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tostar