destro

Forms

destro (feminine destra, masculine plural destros, feminine plural destras)^[1] Houaiss records deestro in the 14th century and dextro in the 15th.^[2] Morais notes that old texts write deestro and seestro with a doubled vowel.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dexter (“right, on the right; skilful”), written Old Galician-Portuguese destro in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] Nascentes notes that the syncopated form dextra already appears in a Latin glossary.^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician destro, Spanish diestro, Catalan destre, Old French destre and Italian destro.^[6][1]

De Vaan traces the Latin word to Proto-Italic *dekstero- and *deḱs-tero- (“right, right-hand side”), with a cognate in Ancient Greek δεξιτερός (dexiterós).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[2][4] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it for the right side of the body, as in o braço destro “the right arm” and a teta destra “the right breast”, and the adverbial a destro “on the right”.^[8] The cantigas d'escarnho have duas esporas destras, ca seestras non son “two right spurs, for they are not left ones”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval language destro is chiefly “right” as opposed to seestro “left”, and the Crónica Geral pairs a destro et a seestro “to right and to left”.^[8] Bluteau (1712) gives only figurative senses: he defines destro as having skill and industry, and also as prudent in handling business.^[9] Morais (1813) records trazer cavallo a destro, a spare horse led alongside without a rider.^[3] This sense of a destro, “alongside, ready for use”, survives in Brazil.^[2][10] In southern Brazil destro describes a man nimble in his work, an experienced hand (vaqueano).^[11]

Houaiss's modern senses are “right-handed”, “on the right”, “skilful”, “quick” and “astute”; as a noun the word also had the obsolete sense passal, a land measure.^[2] In Medieval Latin, dexter was already a noun for a measure of length.^[12]

Timeline

• 1200s – first records, according to Houaiss and Cunha.^[2][4]
• 1300s – the spelling deestro.^[2]
• 1513 – destro in the Livro dos Mártires.^[13]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as “skilful, industrious”.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais records trazer cavallo a destro.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. right-handed: É destra, mas chuta com os dois pés.^[2][14][1]
2. On the right side; direito, opposed to sestro and sinistro.^[2][15]
3. Skilful, dexterous; expert.^[2][16][1]
4. Quick, agile, nimble.^[2][16]
5. (figurative) Shrewd, astute, sagacious.^[2][17][1]

Noun

1. A right-handed or skilful person.^[1]
2. (obsolete) Passal, a land measure.^[2][16]

Word family

• adestrar
• adestrador
• destreza
• destramente
• destrímano

Related words

• ambidestro
• destra
• dextro-
• sestro
• Latin dexter
• Spanish diestro

Usage notes

The phrase a destro means “on the right”, and in Brazil also “alongside, kept ready for use”.^[2][18]

Figueiredo, the old Caldas Aulete and Priberam also record a separate noun destro, a name of the insect also called berro.^[19][18][15] Michaelis has a noun destro “bullfighter”, taken from Spanish diestro.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. destro
3. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 604
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. destro
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 1, 155
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2618
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c 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. destro
9. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. destro
10. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. destro
11. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 1, s.v. destro
12. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. dexter
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. destro
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3081
15. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. destro
16. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. destro
17. ^ 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. destro
18. ^ 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. destro
19. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. destro