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rastrum

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word rastrum

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (rādō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rado
Latin rastrum
Latin abrado
Latin erado

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈraːs.trũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈras.trum][1]

Forms

rāstrum n (genitive rāstrī); second declension[1] The plural is usually masculine, rāstrī, beside a rarer neuter rāstra.[2][3][4] Georges gives a masculine singular rāster.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin rādō (“to scrape”) + -trum.[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of rādō, which goes back to Proto-Italic *rasd-e/o-, with cognates in Welsh rhathu and Breton rahein “to scrape, shave”.[5] It has often been explained from a form with /dt/, but de Vaan notes that the long /aː/ is not proven, so that the noun could also go back to a form with a short vowel.[5] Compare rādula and rāllum, from the same verb.[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it from Plautus on,[5] and Lewis and Short cite the accusative plural rastros in Plautus' Mercator and in Cato's work on agriculture, where he lists hoes with four teeth, rastros quadridentes.[3] The sense is a toothed hoe for breaking up the soil.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It named a drag-hoe or rake, a tool with two or more teeth for breaking clods and weeding.[2][3][4] Virgil speaks of the man who breaks the sluggish clods with hoes, rastris glebas qui frangit inertes, and Columella of wooden rakes.[3] Terence has the proverb mihi illaec vero ad rastros res redit, “this will bring me to the hoe”, that is, I shall have to work for my living.[3][4] Ovid uses it comically of the comb of Polyphemus.[3]

In Medieval Latin from Britain it meant a rake and a drag-hoe or mattock, and glossaries explain it with Old English words.[6] It lives on in Italian rastro, Spanish rastro, Catalan rastre and Romanian rastru.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the accusative plural rastros.[3][5][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato writes of rastros quadridentes.[3][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence has the proverb ad rastros res redit.[3][4][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for breaking clods.[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (usually plural) A toothed hoe, drag-hoe, rake or mattock.[2][3][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A rake; a drag-hoe.[6]
  • rādō
  • rādula
  • rāllum
  • rāstellus

Usage notes

The proverb ad rastros res redit (“it comes down to the hoe”) meant being reduced to working the land for a living.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Rastrum.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/rastrum. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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