cabresto

Forms

cabresto m (plural cabrestos)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese had both cabresto and cabestro.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin capistrum (“halter, muzzle”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cabresto and Old Galician-Portuguese cabestro in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The ⟨r⟩ of the Latin second syllable moved into the first by metathesis, as Houaiss, Nascentes and the DLP note;^[2][5][6][7] Vieira added that the /p/ became /b/ before it.^[2][5][6][7] The learned doublet is capistro.^[2][1]

The same Latin word is Galician cabresto, Spanish cabestro, Catalan cabestre, French chevêtre, Italian capestro and Romanian căpăstru.^[8][1] Galician also has cabestro.^[4]

The OLD derives the Latin noun probably from capiō (“to take, seize”), and Wiktionary analyses it as that verb with the instrument suffix -trum.^[9][1] The DHLF notes that it is not known whether it belongs with caput (“head”) or with the verb.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears inside a Latin law text of 1253: et cabresto de caballo ualeat tres solidos “and a horse's halter shall be worth three solidi”.^[4] Lorenzo uses it to show that the word existed in the 13th century, not only from the 15th, as Machado had said.^[4] Houaiss's first Portuguese record is from 1344, and the Galician translation of the Crónica General has a man riding a horse “without saddle and without bridle” with nothing but a halter.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, the rope or leather halter that ties or leads a beast without a bit, is still the main one.^[2][11] Morais (1789) adds the anatomical sense, the frenulum of the foreskin, and a nautical one: the ropes that hold the bowsprit to the stem of a ship.^[12] His second edition gives a figurative sense, a woman who leads another into prostitution.^[13] The old Caldas Aulete has the tame ox that leads a herd of wild cattle.^[14]

In Brazil the word gave a set of idioms of control and submission, and in the north-east it names the ropes that fix the bench of a jangada raft.^[2][15] In Rio Grande do Sul Schlee records it for the long rope tied to a horse's headstall, as in Plate Spanish.^[16]

Timeline

• 1253 – cabresto de caballo inside a Latin law text.^[4]
• 1344 – Houaiss's first record of cabresto.^[2]
• 14th century – the spelling cabestro.^[2][3]
• 1431–1446 – cabresto in the Vida do honrado Infante Josafat.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists Cabresto with Latin capistrum.^[18]
• 1789 – Morais adds the anatomical and nautical senses.^[12]
• 1899 – first record of the derivative cabrestear.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A halter: a headstall of rope or leather without a bit, used to tie up or lead a horse or other animal.^[2][19][1]
2. A strap or rope that ties the pole of a cart to the yoke.^[2][6]
3. (figurative) Anything that controls or holds someone in check.^[2][14]
4. A tame ox or cow that leads a herd of wild cattle.^[2][19]
5. (anatomy, informal) The frenulum of the foreskin.^[2][20]
6. (nautical) A rope or chain that holds the bowsprit down to the stem of a ship.^[2][19]
7. (Brazil, fishing) A reinforcement of line or thin wire at the tip of a fishing rod.^[2][19]

Word family

• cabresteador
• cabrestear
• encabrestar

Related words

• capistro
• Latin capistrum
• Spanish cabestro

Usage notes

Brazilian idioms include andar de cabresto “to be dominated by someone” (in the South, usually by one's wife), de cabresto curto “kept on a short rein”, encurtar o cabresto “to curb someone's ambitions” and sentar no cabresto, said of a horse that throws itself back to break free, and figuratively of a stubborn refusal.^[2][20]

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. cabresto
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cabresto
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. cabresto
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 84
6. ^ a b c 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. cabresto
7. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 15
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1631
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. capistrum
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. chevêtre
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cabresto
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 207
13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 314
14. ^ a b 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. cabresto
15. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. cabresto
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. cabresto
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. cabresto
18. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cabresto
19. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cabresto
20. ^ a b Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. cabresto