Etymologically
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rado

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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

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