ladrar

Forms

ladrar (first-person singular present ladro, first-person singular preterite ladrei, past participle ladrado)^[1] Houaiss records ladrauõ in the 14th century and ladramdo in the 15th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lātrō (“to bark”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ladrar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1]

The same Latin verb is Romanian lătra, Italian latrare, Catalan lladrar, Occitan lairar and Spanish ladrar.^[5][1] Although speakers feel the verb as a relative of ladrão “thief”, Corominas stresses that the two Latin words have nothing in common in origin: the noun goes back to a Latin word for “mercenary; bandit”.^[6][7] Wiktionary traces the verb to *lātrom and an expressive root Proto-Indo-European *leh₂- (“to bark, howl”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb appears in the 13th century.^[2][3] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X someone mordia as gentes e come can ladrar / se fillava “bit people and began to bark like a dog”, and a cantiga d'escarnho of the same king mocks a puny greyhound that would not catch a hare but only wagged its tail and barked (rabejasse e ladrasse).^[8][9] The Crónica Troiana describes people who do not speak like men but bark like dogs.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Besides the dog's bark, the verb was applied to people: Viterbo found it used for boasting loudly of one's merits and, by Rui de Pina, for jeering at someone.^[10] Morais (1813) records ladrar o ventre “the belly growls”, that is, to be hungry, from Sá de Miranda, as well as ir ladrando of soldiers or ships that harass an enemy without engaging it, and the sense “to pester”.^[11][12] Modern dictionaries add “to shout for no reason” and “to hurl insults”.^[2][13] Houaiss and the DLP also record the infinitive as a noun, o ladrar “the bark”.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – come can ladrar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8][3]
• 14th century – the form ladrauõ; first record of the noun ladrido.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Ladrar with Latin latro.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa adds Ladrador and notes the Latin verb's transfer to people shouting.^[16]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records ladrar o ventre.^[12]
• 1798–1799 – Viterbo notes the old sense “to boast noisily” and Rui de Pina's “to jeer”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of a dog, to bark.^[2][13][1]
2. To shout for no reason; to talk loudly and pointlessly.^[2][17]
3. To utter (insults, curses) violently.^[2][18]

Noun

1. The sound a dog makes; ladrido, latido.^[2][14]

Word family

• ladrado
• ladrido
• ladrante

Related words

• ladrador
• latir
• Latin lātrō
• Spanish ladrar

Usage notes

Ladrar à lua “to bark at the moon” is to rail at someone far away or unaffected, or to shout in vain.^[2][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ladrar
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. ladrar
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ladrar
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4928
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 554
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 555
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. ladrar
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. ladrar
10. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 83
11. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 199
12. ^ 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. ladrar
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. ladrar
14. ^ 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. ladrar
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ladrar
16. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. ladrar
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5544
18. ^ 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. ladrar