trecho

Forms

trecho m (plural trechos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tractus (“a drawing, dragging; a track; a stretch of space”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is formed from trahō (“to drag, draw”), the source of traer.^[2][3][1] García de Diego derives the word instead from traiectus (“a throw, passage”), but grants that it may also come from the word for “drawing, stretch”.^[5]

Corominas notes that the word is common to all the Romance languages.^[2] The same Latin word is Catalan tret, Occitan trach, French trait and Italian tratto.^[6][2] The genuine Galician-Portuguese form is treito, still alive in Galicia;^[2] Portugal later took over the Castilian form, so that Portuguese trecho is a Castilianism there.^[2]

The learned doublet is tracto.^[5][1] treta “trick, feint” comes instead from traite, a fencing term, literally “a pull, a throw”.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in La fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, known from a 13th-century copy), measuring distance by the flight of an arrow: „Al siniestro del Tenplum Domini, .i. trecho de arco, es Probatica Piscina” “to the left of the Temple of the Lord, one bowshot away, is the Probatic Pool”.^[7] The Fuero de Brihuega (c. 1242) likewise measures un trecho de vallesta “a crossbow shot” from the town.^[7] The DCECH's first record is Alfonso X's translation of Lucan, and the BDELC dates the sense “distance a projectile can be thrown” to the early 14th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the reach of a shot the word widened to any stretch of road or distance; the BDELC dates “stretch of way” to 1495, when Nebrija gave Trecho o trocha as Latin tractus.^[3][8] Covarrubias (1611) explains it as the stretch of ground one walks, and Autoridades defines it as a space or distance of place or time, the definition the DLE still gives.^[9][10][4] The adverbial phrases a trechos “at intervals” and de trecho en trecho “at intervals, here and there” were in the Academy's dictionary by 1884.^[11][4] Moliner also records the senses “a while” and “a piece of land”.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – La fazienda de Ultra Mar measures a distance as trecho de arco (in a 13th-century copy).^[7][13]
• 1227 – the derivative trechero, the name of an office, is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1242 – the Fuero de Brihuega has un trecho de vallesta.^[7]
• 1272–1275 – the General estoria of Alfonso X uses the word.^[14]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: Trecho o trocha = tractus.^[8][3]
• 1532 – the first records from the Americas, in Mexico: a trecho de cuarto de legua.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records it.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. tractus” and the phrases a trechos and de trecho en trecho.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stretch or distance of space: Caminamos un buen trecho sin hablar.^[4][12][1]
2. A space of time, a while: Estuvo un trecho callado.^[4][12][1]
3. A piece of land.^[12]

Word family

• trechear

Related words

• pertrecho
• tracto
• traer
• tratar
• trato
• trazar
• trechar
• maltrecho
• Portuguese trecho

Usage notes

A trechos means “at intervals of place or time”, de trecho en trecho (or de trecho a trecho) “from place to place, from time to time”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 575
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trecho
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. trecho
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6801
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8827
7. ^ 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, p. s.v. trecho
8. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 424
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. 1347
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 347
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trecho
13. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. trecho
14. ^ 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. trecho
15. ^ 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. trecho