rado

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈraː.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈraː.do]^[1]

Forms

rādō (present infinitive rādere, perfect active rāsī, supine rāsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *rasd-e/o-.^[2][1] Cognate with Welsh rhathu (“to scrape, rasp”) and Breton rahein (“to scrape, shave”), from a Celtic *rasd-, and the root is not found outside Latin and Celtic.^[2][3] rāmentum “scraping” and rāllum “ploughshare scraper” are derived from it.^[2] The OLD compares Sanskrit रदति (rádati, “scratches, gnaws”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from the Twelve Tables, whose funeral law forbade women to scratch their cheeks.^[2][5] Plautus' crow scratches the ground with its feet.^[4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to scrape, scratch or rasp, as Lucretius' voice that scrapes the throat, and to pare away or scrape off.^[4] It was to shave a person, his head or his hair, as a freed slave shaved his head, as opposed to tondēre “to clip”.^[4][5] It also meant to rub smooth or file, as a book polished with the file, and to graze or brush past, as Propertius' oars that skim the water.^[4]

It survives in Italian radere and Romanian rade.^[1] Medieval Latin rāsāre gave Old French raser, the source of English raze, English rase and English razor, and its compounds gave English erase and English abrade.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.^[2]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus' crow scratches the ground.^[4][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius' voice scrapes the throat.^[4][6]
• c. 1300 – English razor is recorded.^[7]
• c. 1600 – English erase is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To scrape, scratch, rasp.^[4]
2. To pare away, scrape off.^[4]
3. To shave (a person, the head, hair).^[4]
4. To rub smooth, file.^[4]
5. To graze, brush, skim past.^[4]

Word family

• abrādō
• adrādō
• circumrādō
• corrādō
• dērādō
• dirado
• ērādō
• interrādō
• irrādō
• irrāsus
• praerasus
• rādula

Related words

• rōdō
• tondeō
• English raze
• English razor
• English erase

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com