crosta

Forms

crosta f (plural crostas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crusta (“crust, hard coating, shell”).^[2][3][4][1] Beside it Portuguese has a learned doublet with the Latin spelling, which Houaiss dates to 1574–1590 and calls a learned divergent form.^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician crosta, Spanish costra, Catalan crosta, French croûte and Italian crosta.^[6][7][1] The DCECH notes that it survives in all the Romance languages except Romanian and Sardinian, and that only Castilian moved the r.^[7]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *krusto- (“hardened”), from a PIE participle *krus-to- (“crushed, pounded”), and compares κρούω (kroúō, “to strike”) and krùšti (“to crush”).^[8] Wiktionary instead derives it from Proto-Indo-European *krustós (“hardened”), from *krews- (“to form a crust, begin to freeze”), related to κρύος (krúos, “frost”); the OLD also compares the Greek word.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates the word to the 16th century, without quoting the text.^[3] Morais in 1789 defines it as the crust of a scab, and Vieira in 1871 repeats the definition.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

The modern senses widen the scab to any hardened layer that forms on or around a body: a crust of dirt, the hard surface of a fruit, the part of a lichen that clings to stone or bark.^[2][12][13] Geology took it up for the outer layer of the Earth, crosta terrestre or crosta da Terra.^[2][12][14] For the crust of bread the DCECH says Portuguese lost the Latin sense and uses côdea, but Houaiss and Aurélio also give crosta in this sense.^[7][2][12]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record, as is the learned form with u.^[3]
• 1574–1590 – first record of the learned doublet, in a shipwreck narrative.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as the crust of a scab.^[10]
• 1899 – Figueiredo extends it to any thick, hard layer of a body.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crust: a hardened layer that forms on or around a surface: uma crosta de lama nas botas.^{[2][12][16][1]}
2. The crust of bread; a côdea.^[2][12][14]
3. (medicine) A scab, the hard layer that forms over a wound as blood or fluid dries.^{[2][12][17][1]}
4. (botany) The part of a líquen that adheres to stone, soil or bark.^[2][13]
5. (geology) crosta terrestre, crosta da Terra: the outermost layer of the Earth or of another planet.^[2][14][1]
6. Anything that wraps or covers something; a casing.^[16][14]

Word family

• crostoso

Related words

• crusta
• crustáceo
• Spanish costra

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. crosta
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. crosta
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. crosta
5. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. crusta
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. crosta
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 223
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. crusta
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. crusta
10. ^ 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, 350
11. ^ 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, 644
12. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. crosta
13. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. crosta
14. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2601
15. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 363
16. ^ a b 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. crosta
17. ^ 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. crosta