bastão

Forms

bastão m (plural bastões)^[1] The medieval form is baston (plural bastões); Houaiss records bastam in 1563.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *basto (“a piece of stick used as a support”) (accusative *bastōnem), written Old Galician-Portuguese baston in the oldest texts.^[2][1][4] Machado and the DLP think it came through baston, the Old French word of the Song of Roland.^[5][6] The Latin noun is formed on bastum (“stick”), found once, in a 4th-century text.^[2][7][8]

The same formation is Galician bastón, Spanish bastón, Catalan bastó, French bâton and Italian bastone.^[7][1] The Spanish word is recorded from 1074.^[7] The origin of the Late Latin noun is doubtful.^[7] Most scholars derive it from a Vulgar Latin verb for “to carry”, the source of bastar, and that from Ancient Greek βαστάζω (bastázō, “to lift, carry”).^[7][9][1] The REW, under a homonym meaning “pack-saddle”, thinks the link with the Greek verb unlikely.^[10] Wiktionary considers the Greek verb itself probably Pre-Greek.^[1] Wiktionary calls batom a doublet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use baston for a stick to strike with: sen feri-lo de baston “without hitting him with a stick”, deulle con un baston “he hit him with a stick”, and deron-lle muitas con bastões “they gave him many blows with sticks”.^[3] A cantiga d'escarnho has ferio-o mui mal dun gran baston “he wounded him badly with a great stick”.^[3] The derivative bastonada is already in a Latin law text of 1055–1065.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The stick carried in the hand for support or as a weapon became a mark of rank: Morais (1813) has it as the staff of military command, and Vieira (1871–1874) quotes from Vieira's Sermões arrima o bastão “he lays down the staff”, that is, he gives up command.^[11][12] Morais also records the rods on which dyers hang the skeins, the acorn of the cork oak and meter o bastão “to step in and stop a quarrel”.^[11] Houaiss dates to 1535 an obsolete culinary term of India, the same as cravo-de-bastão.^[2] Figueiredo (1899) adds a full-bodied, dark wine.^[13] In the 20th century the word was used for anything moulded in a short rod (glue, sealing wax), for gymnastic bars and for the stick struck at the start of a play, the bastão de Molière.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – baston in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3]
• 1535 – the culinary term of India, the same as cravo-de-bastão.^[2]
• 16th century – in Gaspar de São Bernardino's Itinerário a man dressed in the Indian court fashion sits com seu bastão.^[5]
• 1563 – the spelling bastam.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa renders it by Latin fustis.^[15]
• 1813 – Morais records the military staff, the dyers' rod and the acorn of the cork oak.^[11]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the sense “dark, full-bodied wine”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stick or staff, usually round, carried in the hand to help in walking or as a weapon: O avô já não sai sem o bastão.^[2][14][1]
2. Any material moulded in the shape of a short rod: cola em bastão.^[2][16]
3. (gymnastics) A strong bar about a metre long used in some exercises.^[2]
4. (military) A baton as the badge of high command;^[2][6][17] (figurative) authority.^[2][6][17]
5. (dyeing) A rod on which the skeins are hung in the dye bath.^[2][6]
6. (theatre) bastão de Molière: the stick struck three times on the stage floor to announce the start of a play.^[2][6]
7. (typography) The same as grotesco, a sans-serif type.^[2][14]
8. (Portugal) The acorn of the cork oak, of the first crop.^[6][17]

Word family

• bastonada
• bastonete

Related words

• batom
• bastar
• Late Latin bastum
• Spanish bastón
• French bâton

Usage notes

Houaiss, Machado and Aurélio also record a separate noun bastão, a measure of about 25 alqueires used in the Maldives in the 16th century, of local origin according to Dalgado;^{[2][5][14][6]} Houaiss and the DLP also have an adjective bastão “very thick”, formed on basto.^{[2][5][14][6]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bastão
3. ^ a b c d Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. baston
4. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. bastão
5. ^ a b c d e Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. bastão
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. bastão
7. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 339
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. bastum
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 537
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 983
11. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 268
12. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 1, 738
13. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. bastão
14. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. bastão
15. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bastão
16. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. bastão
17. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. bastão