vado

Forms

vado m (plural vados)^[1] Old Spanish spelled it uado, vado and bado; the place name Bado de Rey occurs in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish vado, inherited from Latin vadum (“shallow water, ford”).^[4][5][6][1] The DLE and Wikcionario give the Latin masculine by-form vadus, which Varro and Sallust used.^[6][7][8] Wiktionary compares the kept /d/ with grado;^[1][9] García de Diego explains the /d/ as taken from words ending in ⟨-ado⟩, beside the form vao.^[1][9]

The word is shared by all the Romance languages: Portuguese vau, Galician vao, Asturian vau, Romanian vad and Sardinian badu.^[4][10][11] In Italian guado, French gué, Occitan ga and Old Catalan guau (now gual) the initial was influenced by the Germanic word for “ford”, Frankish *wad.^[4][10][12]

The Latin noun goes back to *waðom and Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- (“to go”), the root of vādō (“to go”); Old English wadan, the source of wade, and Old Norse vað (“ford”) are related.^[1][8] Gómez de Silva links it to the same verb, whose forms supply part of Spanish ir.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates the first record to a charter of 967 in Oelschläger's list, and the diminutive vadiello to 972.^[4][5] The Cantar de mio Cid has the word in the place name Bado de Rey.^[4][3] In Alfonso X's Lapidario it already means “ford”, a shallow place where a river can be crossed.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “way out, expedient, remedy” must have existed by 1460, when Jaume Roig borrowed vado with this meaning from Castilian.^[4] Covarrubias explains dar vado a las cosas as letting things run their course, like a traveller who waits for the river to fall before looking for the ford, and records tentar el vado “to sound the ford, try an affair cautiously”, no hallar vado and the proverb vieja escarmentada, pasa el vado arregazada.^[15] Autoridades also gives ni al vado ni a la puente for a person who cannot decide.^[16]

The modern sense “lowered kerb giving vehicles access to a garage or building” is recorded by the DLE and Moliner;^[6][17] vado permanente names an entrance that must be kept clear.^[6][17] The old sense “truce, respite” is now marked as disused.^[6]

Timeline

• 967 – first record, in a charter.^[4][5]
• 972 – the diminutive vadiello (modern vadillo) appears.^[4]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid names the Bado de Rey.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses bados of river fords.^[14]
• 1438 – first record of vadoso “full of fords”.^[5]
• 1490 – first record of vadear “to ford”.^[5]
• 1532 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico: río que no tiene bado.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records tentar el vado, dar vado and no hallar vado.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin vadus.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ford: a place in a river with a firm, flat and shallow bottom, where one can cross on foot, on horseback or in a vehicle.^[6][1]
2. A lowered section of the pavement and kerb that gives vehicles access to premises and garages: No aparques delante del vado.^[6][17]
3. A way out, remedy or course of action in an affair, as in dar vado and no hallar vado.^[6][16]
4. (disused) A truce, respite.^[6][17]

Word family

• vadear
• vadeable
• vadera
• vadillo
• vadoso

Related words

• Latin vadum
• Portuguese vau
• Catalan gual

Usage notes

Set phrases include tentar el vado “to sound out a matter cautiously” and the colloquial al vado o a la puente, urging someone to choose one course or the other.^[6][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. vado
3. ^ a b c Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 423
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 727
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vado
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. vado
7. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. vado
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. uadum
9. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 7009
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. vadum
11. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3471
12. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 691
13. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. vado
14. ^ 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. vado
15. ^ 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. 1365
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 409
17. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vado
18. ^ 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. vado
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1068