resto

Forms

resto m (plural restos)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Portuguese restar (“to remain, be left”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The verb is from Latin restō (“to stay behind, remain”), from re- and stō (“to stand, stay”).^[6][1] Houaiss's first date for the noun (1567) is earlier than his first date for the verb (1574–1590).^[2][6]

The same noun is Spanish resto, Italian resto and French reste, each from the verb of its language.^[7][8] Spanish has it from 1574.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the noun to 1567, in the sense of what is left over from a whole.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) glosses it with Latin residuum.^[10] Bluteau (1712–1728) records it in the card game primeira as the money a player set apart to stake, with meter o resto “to risk everything”, also figuratively.^[11] Morais (1789) defines it as the remainder, the last part or portion, and explains metter o resto as staking the money left after a loss, and figuratively as putting all one's strength and effort into something.^[12]

The arithmetical senses, the remainder of a division or a subtraction, are in the modern dictionaries.^[2][13][1] The plural restos means ruins and fragments, leftovers of food, and in restos mortais the remains of a dead person.^[2][14] In Brazil the dialect surveys record it for the stubble left in the ground after rice or tobacco is cut, and for used coffee grounds.^[15]

Timeline

• 1567 – first record of the noun.^[2]
• 1574–1590 – first record of the verb restar.^[6]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it as residuum.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau records meter o resto from the card game primeira.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as the remainder, the last portion.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The rest; what is left of a whole after part has been taken away: Comi metade e guardei o resto.^[2][13][1]
2. A remnant, something that remains or lasts: um resto de esperança.^[2][4][1]
3. The other people or things not yet mentioned.^[5]
4. (arithmetic) The remainder of a division; the difference between the dividend and the product of divisor and quotient.^[2][13][1]
5. (arithmetic) The result of a subtraction.^[2][4]
6. (in the plural) ruins, fragments; leftovers, especially of food.^[2][14] Restos mortais are the mortal remains of a person.^[2][14]

Related words

• restante
• restar
• Latin restō
• Spanish resto

Usage notes

De resto means “besides, as for the rest”.^[2][13][1]

Houaiss also records a separate noun resto (from 1899), the same as fancho, which he refers to reste.^{[2][3][13][5]} Nascentes and Aurélio explain it as a variant of reste, the rest used in billiards, and Michaelis traces it to English rest.^{[2][3][13][5]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. resto
3. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. resto
4. ^ a b c 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. resto
5. ^ 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. resto
6. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. restar
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7248
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. restare
9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. restar
10. ^ a b 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. resto
11. ^ 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. resto
12. ^ 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, 337
13. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. resto
14. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8060
15. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. resto