tras

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish tras, inherited from Latin trāns (“across, beyond”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin sense “beyond” hardly survives in Castilian except in place names such as ⟨Trasmiera⟩ and ⟨Trastámara⟩.^[2] The meaning passed from “beyond” to “behind”: with a door, for example, it first meant moving through to the other side and then the place behind it.^[5][6] The learned form of the same word is the prefix trans-.^[5]

The same word is Portuguese trás, Galician tras and Asturian tres.^[7][8] Old French tres was a preposition meaning “behind” and “after” until the 14th or 15th century, and as an intensifier became the modern adverb très “very”.^[9]

The Latin preposition comes from *trānts.^[10][1] De Vaan explains it as an old present participle Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂-n̥ts (“crossing”), from the root *terh₂- (“to cross, overcome”), which is also in Sanskrit and Hittite verbs for “to cross, prevail”.^[10] Wiktionary relates it to German durch and the English word through.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the preposition in charters of 928 and other 10th-century documents listed by Oelschläger,^[2][3] and it is already in the Cid.^[2][11] In the Alfonsine prose it means “after”, “behind” and “in pursuit of”: the Lapidario speaks of the figure of gatos que corren tras un mur “cats that run after a mouse”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

From the idea “behind” Old Spanish sometimes reached “next to, near”, especially in tras fuego or tras el fuego “by the fire”, found in Sem Tob and still in Juan de Valdés.^[2] Old Portuguese also kept a sense “besides”, close to the Latin.^[2] Covarrubias in 1611 noted that the word meant “beyond” in Latin but “after” in Spanish, and that it also expressed order and pursuit (el alguacil va tras él).^[13] Autoridades recorded the preposition of order, its use as “behind” (tras una puerta), the sense “besides” in tras de venir tarde, regaña “on top of coming late, he scolds”, and a familiar noun el tras “the backside”.^[14]

Corominas describes tras as purely literary today;^[2] Moliner notes that it is preferred when the thing behind is hidden, while detrás de is more usual for plain position.^[15] The preposition formed atrás (about 1200) and detrás (1163), and the old trasnieto “great-grandson” led to tataranieto.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 928 – first records, in charters listed by Oelschläger.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][11]
• 1163 – the compound detrás.^[2][3]
• c. 1200 – the compound atrás, in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca.^[2][3]
• 1240 – trasabuelo “great-grandfather” in the Fuero Juzgo.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – the Lapidario uses tras for pursuit.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it with Latin trans and ultra.^[16][2]
• 1514 – first record in the Americas, in Darién: uno en tras de otro.^[17]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “behinde, after”.^[18]
• 1607 – the derivatives atrasar and retrasar.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias contrasts the Latin and Spanish meanings.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin trans.^[19]

Meanings

Preposition

1. after, following, in space or time: Tras la cena salimos a pasear.^[4][15][1]
2. In pursuit or search of: Los perros corrían tras el zorro.^[4][15][1]
3. behind, especially hidden by something: El gato se escondió tras el sofá.^[4][15][1]
4. (with de or an infinitive) Besides, on top of: Tras de llegar tarde, protesta.^[4][15]
5. Between two uses of the same noun, for repetition: día tras día, uno tras otro.^[1]

Noun

1. (colloquial) The buttocks (nalgas), the backside.^[4][15]

Word family

• atrás
• detrás
• trasero
• atrasar
• retrasar

Related words

• trans-
• Latin trans
• Portuguese trás

Usage notes

A separate tras is an imitative word for the sound of a blow, often doubled, tras, tras, for knocking at a door.^[4][19] The Academy illustrated the preposition with the proverb echar la soga tras el caldero, “to throw the rope after the bucket”.^[20]

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 k l m n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 605
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tras
4. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. tras
5. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. tras
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. trás
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6806
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3357
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. très
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 462
12. ^ 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. tras
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. 1345
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 331
15. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tras
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 424
17. ^ 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. tras
18. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 224
19. ^ 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. 1044
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 761