raro

Forms

raro (feminine rara, masculine plural raros, feminine plural raras, comparable, comparative mais raro, superlative o mais raro or raríssimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Latin rārus (“loose, sparse, rare”), a learned form beside the inherited doublet ralo.^[1][2][3] The REW counts the Portuguese word, like Spanish raro, French rare and Italian raro, among the learned forms, against inherited ones such as Spanish ralo, Italian rado and Romanian rar.^[4] Bluteau already noted that the word in the sense “thin, not dense” was commonly replaced by the inherited form.^[5]

The Latin adjective meant first “of loose structure, porous” and was the opposite of dēnsus.^[6][7] Its further origin is uncertain: it has been compared with Ancient Greek ἐρῆμος (erêmos, “lonely”) and with Proto-Slavic *oriti, but none of these links is secure.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha's addenda date the word to the 14th century, in the Livro das Aves; his main article has it only from the 16th, and the adverb raramente from the 15th.^[3] Houaiss also dates it to the 14th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “thin, sparse” survived beside “uncommon”: Bluteau gives rede rara “a net with wide meshes” and cabellos raros “thin hair”, and his book of synonyms lists raro with “extraordinary”, “singular” and “hard to find”.^[5] Morais quotes Bernardes writing raro da janella for the grating of a window, and prefers it to ralo.^[8] Today the sense “thin, not dense” is the last one listed, and the noun raro survives only as a popular form of ralo.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1300s – first record, in the Livro das Aves.^[3][2]
• 1400s – the adverb raramente.^[3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau notes that raro “not dense” is commonly said ralo.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais prefers raro to ralo for the grating of a window.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. rare: not common, seldom found.^[2][10][1]
2. Happening seldom; infrequent.^[2][9]
3. Few in number; scarce: Raras pessoas sabiam o caminho.^[2][11]
4. Exceptional, extraordinary; possessed by few: uma memória rara.^[2][12][1]
5. Not dense, thin, sparse; the same as ralo.^[2][10][1]

Adverb

1. rarely, seldom.^[2][10][1]

Word family

• raramente
• raridade
• rarear

Related words

• ralo
• rarefazer
• rarefeito
• rarefação
• Latin rārus

Usage notes

De raro em raro or raro em raro means “now and then”, and não raro “often”.^[2]

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 j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. raro
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. raro
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7067
5. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. raro
6. ^ 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. rārus
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rārus
8. ^ 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, 285
9. ^ 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. raro
10. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. raro
11. ^ 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. raro
12. ^ 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. raro