Etymologically
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rastrum

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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