rasto

Forms

rasto m (plural rastos)^[1] The variant rastro keeps the second /r/ of the Latin word.^[2][3] Houaiss treats it as the main form and rasto as the same word.^[2][3] Aurélio notes that rasto is the commoner of the two.^[4] Old Galician-Portuguese texts have rastro and rrastro.^[3][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rastrum (“rake, drag-hoe”), through the form Old Galician-Portuguese rastro, with the second /r/ lost by dissimilation.^[2][6][7][1] Nascentes refers this dissimilation to Nunes's historical grammar.^[8] Cunha's dates run the other way: he records the form without the second /r/ in the 13th century and the fuller form only in the 14th.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician rastro, Spanish rastro and Italian rastro.^[9][1] The Latin noun is formed from rādō (“to scrape”) with the instrumental suffix -trum.^[10][1]

The sense moved from the farm tool to the marks it leaves when dragged over the ground, and then to any track or trail.^[11] Corominas traces the same development in the Spanish word, which already means “track” in the Cid.^[11] Bluteau in the 18th century explained the word from the mark that a thing dragged along leaves on the ground.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cunha dates rasto to the 13th century, with the sense “trace, sign”.^[6] The Fuero Real of the 13th or 14th century, in its Galician-Portuguese version, speaks of a theft where a rastro “trace” appears, such as a holed wall, and of one where no trace is seen (pero que nõ paresca rastro).^[5]

Semantic evolution

Medieval chronicles use rastro for the track of an animal or person, as when hounds fall on the count's trail, and also for the train of people and baggage following an army.^[5] The 16th- and 17th-century dictionaries render rasto by Latin vestigium, and Barbosa (1611) lists the phrases deyxar rasto “to leave a trace” and fazer rasto.^[13][14] Morais (1789) already has the figurative use, traces of a conspiracy or of avarice.^[15]

Later dictionaries add technical senses: the underside of a shoe or of a plane, and a part of the plough that runs along the ground.^[16][17] The phrase de rastos “dragging oneself along the ground” came to mean “in ruin, in deep decline”, and pôr de rastos means “to discredit”.^[18][19]

Timeline

• 1200s – first record of rasto, according to Cunha.^[6]
• 1300s – rastro in the Fuero Real and other texts.^[6][5]
• 1513 – rasto in the Livro dos Mártires.^[20]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders Rasto by Latin vestigium.^[13]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists deyxar rasto and fazer rasto.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word rasto, ou rastro.^[12]
• 1858 – first record of the derivative rastilho “fuse”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A track or trail: the footprints or other marks left by a person or animal that has passed: Os caçadores perderam o rasto do javali.^[17][19][1]
2. A trace that something leaves behind it as it moves, such as the wake of a ship or the trail of a meteor.^[17][16]
3. (figurative) A sign or clue that may lead to someone or something: O fugitivo desapareceu sem deixar rasto.^[18][4][1]
4. The underside of a shoe.^[16]
5. The underside of the stock of a plane or similar tool.^[16][17]
6. (agriculture) The part of the plough that runs along the ground.^[19][17]

Word family

• arrastar
• rasteiro
• rastejar
• rastilho
• rastrear

Related words

• rastelo
• rastreador
• Latin rastrum
• Spanish rastro

Usage notes

Set phrases: a rasto and de rastos “dragging (oneself) along the ground”, also “in ruin”.^[18][19][4] pôr de rastos “to discredit, to run down”.^[18][19][4] perder o rasto “to lose track (of)”.^[18][19][4] no rasto de “on the trail of”.^[18][19][4] In Rio Grande do Sul enredar o rasto a means “to throw (someone) off the scent”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rasto
3. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rastro
4. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rasto
5. ^ 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. rastro
6. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. rasto
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rasto
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 435
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. rastrum
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rastrum
11. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 789
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. rasto
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rasto
14. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rasto
15. ^ 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, 287
16. ^ a b c d 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. rasto
17. ^ a b c d e 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. rasto
18. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. rasto
19. ^ a b c d e f g Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7784
20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. rasto