pasto

Forms

pasto m (plural pastos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāstus (“feeding, pasture; food”), an action noun of pāscō (“to feed, put to pasture”).^[2][3][4][1] The same Latin word is Spanish pasto, Catalan past and Italian pasto.^[5][6] The Latin verb is traced to Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology has the word in Galician charters from 1276, in the formula con montes et con fontes et con entradas et con saydas et con pastos “with hills and springs, with ways in and ways out and with pastures”, and in 1282 e auerdes pasto e tallo arredor “and you shall have pasture and grazing around it”.^[7] The sense there is grazing land.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) distinguishes the field where cattle graze and the grass they eat.^[8] Morais (1789) widens it to any food of people and birds, and records casa de pasto, an eating house where each pays for his meal, and the figurative pasto do fogo for wood burnt.^[9] Later dictionaries add spiritual food, delight and “subject, matter”.^[2][10] In Brazil pasto names many grasses and the grass of the southern campos.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1276 – con pastos in a Galician charter.^[7]
• 1282 – auerdes pasto e tallo.^[7]
• 13th century – Cunha's date for the first record.^[3]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin pascua.^[13]
• 1755 – Folqman lists casa de pasto.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais records pasto for any food and casa de pasto.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. grass or other plants that cattle eat; pastagem.^[2][10][1]
2. Land where animals graze; a pasture: Os cavalos passaram a tarde no pasto.^[2][10][1]
3. The act of grazing.^[15][16][1]
4. Food in general; a meal.^[2][10][15]
5. (figurative) Food for the mind; teaching that sustains the spirit.^[10][15]
6. (figurative) Delight, satisfaction.^[10][15]
7. (figurative) A subject or occasion for talk: A notícia deu pasto a conversas na aldeia.^[10][15]

Word family

• pastagem
• pastar
• repasto
• pasto-amargo

Related words

• pascer
• pastadouro
• pastaria
• pastejar
• pastejo
• pastio
• pastor
• pastura
• pastoral
• pastoril
• Latin pāstus

Usage notes

Casa de pasto is a modest eating house where meals are served.^[15][17]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pasto
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pasto
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pastus
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6283
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. pastus
7. ^ 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. pasto
8. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pasto
9. ^ 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. 2, 168
10. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pasto
11. ^ 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. pasto
12. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. pasto
13. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pasto
14. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pasto
15. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pasto
16. ^ 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. pasto
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6958