rascar

Forms

rascar (first-person singular present rasco, first-person singular preterite rasquei, past participle rascado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *rāsicō (“to scrape”), written Old Galician-Portuguese rascar in the 13th century.^[2][3][1] The Vulgar Latin verb is a frequentative built on Latin rāsus (“scraped, shaven”), the past participle of rādō (“to scrape, shave”).^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes (1955) preferred a form *rascō, after Meyer-Lübke and Adolfo Coelho, as explaining the word better.^[5] Houaiss counts rasgar “to tear” as a divergent form of the same verb;^[2][6] García de Diego derives that verb from resecō (“to cut back”) instead.^[2][6]

The same Vulgar Latin verb is Spanish rascar, Catalan rascar, Occitan rascar and Old French raschier.^[7] The Spanish verb is first recorded in Berceo, in the 13th century.^[8]

The senses “to shout” and “to court” may have a separate source: Nascentes takes “to shout” from an old homonymous verb of that meaning, and the Caldas Aulete calls their origin doubtful.^[2][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1182, is the form rascando, taken from Machado.^[2] The verb is common in the 13th-century cantigas.^[11][3] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a lady scratches her face in grief (como a dona se rascava e fazia doo), and a man ends up o rostro rascado “with his face scratched”.^[11] In the satirical songs Johan Garcia de Guilhade and Martin Soarez mock bad players who rascar “scrape” their instruments.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) and Morais (1789) give “to scrape, to scratch”, with the example rascar a lepra.^[13][14] In 1813 Morais added an old sense “to shout, cry out”, taken from Viterbo's Elucidário.^[15] Later dictionaries add the rough taste that wine or green fruit leaves in the throat, the cleaning of bottles with lead shot, and the grating of an unpleasant sound.^[2][16] Regional senses are “to chatter” in Bahia, “to court” in Portugal and, in Rio Grande do Sul, “to strum” a guitar.^[17][18][19]

Timeline

• 1182 – the form rascando, Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 13th century – rascar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the satirical songs.^[11][3]
• 15th century – first record of the derivative rascadura.^[3]
• 1513 – rascar in the Livro dos Mártires.^[20]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau: “to scrape, to scratch”.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais adds the old sense “to shout”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To scrape fragments off a surface with a tool; to raspar: rascar a tinta velha da porta.^[2][21][1]
2. To chip or rough-hew wood or stone; to lascar.^[2][21]
3. To scratch, to graze the skin.^[2][10]
4. To clean bottles or other vessels inside by shaking lead shot, salt or chains in them.^[2][16]
5. To grate on the ears; by extension, to annoy.^[2][21]
6. (intransitive) Of wine or green fruit, to leave a rough taste in the throat.^[2][21][22]
7. (Bahia, intransitive) To chatter.^[2][17]
8. (archaic, intransitive) To shout, to call out loud.^[2][18]
9. (Portugal, informal, intransitive) To court (namorar).^[2][18]
10. (Rio Grande do Sul) To strum a guitar;^[19] (reflexive) of an animal, to scratch itself again and again.^[19]

Word family

• enrascar
• rasca
• rascante
• rascão
• rasqueta

Related words

• rasgar
• raso
• Latin rādō
• Spanish rascar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rascar
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. rascar
4. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. rascar
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. 434
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *rasicare
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7074
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 786
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rascar
10. ^ 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. rascar
11. ^ 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. rascar
12. ^ 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. rascar1
13. ^ 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. rascar
14. ^ 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, 286
15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 552
16. ^ 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. rascar
17. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. rascar
18. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. rascar
19. ^ a b c Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. rascar
20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. rascar
21. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rascar
22. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7776