trazar

Forms

trazar (first-person singular present trazo, first-person singular preterite tracé, past participle trazado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *tractiāre (“to draw a line”), a verb formed on tractus (“drawn; a drawing, trail”), the past participle of trahō (“to pull, drag”).^{[2][1][3][4][5]} The Academy's dictionary of 1884 derived it instead from tractō (“to handle”).^[6]

The verb is shared by the Romance languages of the west: Portuguese traçar, Catalan traçar, French tracer and Italian tracciare.^[3][7][1] Corominas notes that only Romanian lacks it.^[4]

The origin of the Latin verb is unclear, and a link with Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to drag, draw”) is debated, since Latin /t/ does not usually match Germanic /d/; de Vaan allows that both may be loans from a common non-Indo-European source.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary, which renders traçar with Latin delinio and linio, “to draw lines, to outline”, and the noun traço with liniamentum.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The early records from the Americas concern laying out towns: documents of Santo Domingo (1519) and Mexico (1532) speak of laying out a city or a village.^[8] Covarrubias in 1611 explains it as drawing the plan and elevation of a work, and records tracista for the artist who makes the design.^[9] Autoridades adds the figurative sense “to devise the means to an end”, with a quotation from Fray Luis de Granada.^[10] The Academy added the plain sense “to make strokes” in 1899.^[11]

In the Canary Islands trazar means to eat holes in cloth, paper or crops, a sense taken from Portuguese, where traça is the moth.^[12][13][14]

Timeline

• c. 1495 – Nebrija records traçar and traço.^[3][4]
• 1519 – Santo Domingo: a document speaks of the city trazada, laid out.^[8]
• late 16th century – the noun traza “plan, design” is first recorded.^[3][4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the verb by architectural drawing.^[9]
• 1612 – a Canarian text uses trazar for locusts devouring the crops.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades gives the senses “to design” and “to devise”.^[10]
• 1855 – trazado is first recorded as a noun.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy derives the verb from Latin tractare.^[6]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the sense “to make strokes”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw lines or strokes: Trazó una línea recta con la regla.^[2][1]
2. To design or lay out the plan of a building or other work.^[2]
3. To devise and arrange the means to achieve something: Trazaron una estrategia para ganar.^[2][15]
4. To outline or describe in words the main features of a person or subject.^[2]
5. (Canary Islands) Of moths and similar pests: to eat holes in cloth, paper or fruit.^[13][12]

Word family

• traza
• trazado
• trazo
• trazable
• trazador

Related words

• traer
• tratar
• trecho
• Latin tractus
• Portuguese traçar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. trazar
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 575
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trazar
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
6. ^ 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. 1048
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
8. ^ 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. trazar
9. ^ 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. 1342
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 346
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 981
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. trazar
13. ^ a b Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org
14. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3336
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trazar