pastor

Forms

pastor m (plural pastores, feminine pastora, feminine plural pastoras)^[1] In the medieval lyric pastor was used for both sexes: ũa pastor is “a shepherdess”; today the feminine is pastora.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāstor (“herdsman, shepherd”), written Old Galician-Portuguese pastor in the oldest texts.^[4][5][6][1] The Latin noun is formed on the stem of the supine of pāscō (“to feed, to graze”).^[4][1]

The same Latin word is Romanian păstor, Italian pastore, Catalan pastor and Spanish pastor.^[7] It is also French pâtre, from the Latin nominative, beside pasteur, from the oblique form.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest date, 1188–1230, is a Latin legal text in the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica: pastor qui oues uigilauerit “a shepherd who has watched over sheep”.^[4][2] In Portuguese the word is recorded from the 13th century.^[5] In the cantigas of the troubadours it means “shepherd, shepherdess”, and very often simply “a young person, a girl”: one speaker says there is no father or mother to teach him, e fiquei pastor “and I remained a child”.^[2][9][3]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the figurative sense “spiritual guide” to the 14th century.^[4] The Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) is the first text in the CTA corpus with the word.^[10] Cardoso (1562) and Pereira (1697) give it with Latin pastor and pecuarius.^[11][12] The sense “Protestant minister” and the name of herding dogs are modern.^[4][13] Caldas Aulete records Brazilian uses for a stallion kept for breeding, in Rio Grande do Sul and Bahia, and so do Aurélio and Navarro.^[14][15][16] As an adjective the word means “leading a herdsman's life”, as in povos pastores.^[15][4]

Timeline

• 1188–1230 – pastor in a Latin legal text.^[2]
• 13th century – first Portuguese records; in the cantigas also “young person”.^[5][2]
• 14th century – the sense “spiritual guide”.^[4]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[10]
• 1562 – Cardoso's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A herdsman, a person who takes livestock to pasture (pasto) and watches over it; especially a shepherd.^[4][13][1]
2. (figurative) A spiritual guide or mentor: pastor de almas.^[4][15][1]
3. (Protestantism) A minister of a Protestant church.^[4][13][1]
4. A herding dog, a dog bred to guard flocks;^[4][1] pastor-alemão is the German shepherd.^[4][1]
5. (Brazil, Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul) A stallion kept for breeding; garanhão.^[4][15][16]

Adjective

1. Leading a herdsman's life; pastoril.^[4][15]
2. (Brazil) Of a male animal: kept for breeding.^[13][17]

Word family

• pastora
• pastorar
• pastorear
• pastoril
• pastorinha

Related words

• pascer
• pastar
• pasto
• pastoral
• pastoreio
• Latin pāstor

Usage notes

O Bom Pastor “the Good Shepherd” is Jesus Christ.^[18][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. pastor
3. ^ a b Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. pastor
4. ^ 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. pastor
5. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pasto
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pastor
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6279
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. pâtre
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. pastor1
10. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. pastor
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1562), Dictionarium juventuti studiosae admodum frugiferum, Coimbra: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pastor
12. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pastor
13. ^ a b c d 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. pastor
14. ^ 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. pastor
15. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pastor
16. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. pastor
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. pastor
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pastor
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6958