rodar

Forms

rodar (first-person singular present rodo, first-person singular preterite rodei, past participle rodado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rotō (“to turn round, rotate”), a verb formed on rota (“wheel”).^[2][3][1][4]

The same Latin verb is Galician rodar, Spanish rodar, Catalan rodar, Occitan rodar, French rouer and Italian rotare.^[5][6][7] The learned rotar is a borrowed doublet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to the 14th century, from Lorenzo's records, and the past participle rodado is in the same century.^[2] The Crónica Troiana describes a horse todo rodado de manchas “dappled all over with spots”, white as snow and black as jet.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders rodar with Latin roto.^[9] Bluteau in 1712 has turning round like a wheel and rolling down a slope: Rodou do monte a pedra, quoting Vieira.^[10] Morais in 1789 adds travelling on wheels, horses that draw a coach, and breaking a criminal's limbs on the wheel, and figuratively the turning of fortune.^[11]

Houaiss's modern senses add going round a place, travelling through it, and, in Brazil, the distance a vehicle covers.^[2] Cinema took it for shooting a film, and Brazilian computing for running a program.^[2][1] Brazilian informal speech also uses it for failing, losing a chance, being dismissed or flunking an exam.^[2]

Timeline

• 14th century – first records, among them the participle rodado.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists rodar.^[9]
• 1712 – Bluteau records rolling down a slope.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais records breaking on the wheel.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To turn, to make something spin: Rodou a maçaneta devagar.^[2][12][1]
2. (intransitive) To rotate or revolve round an axis or centre; to orbit.^[2][12][1]
3. (transitive) To go round; to travel through, to tour: Rodaram o país inteiro de carro.^[2][12]
4. (intransitive) To roll down; to fall turning over.^[2][13]
5. (Brazil) To travel on wheels; of a vehicle, to cover a distance.^[2]
6. (intransitive) Of time, to pass.^[2][14]
7. (transitive, historical) To break on the wheel.^[2][12]
8. (cinema) To shoot a film or scene.^[2][1]
9. (printing, dated) To run off copies, as on a mimeograph.^[2][1]
10. (Brazil, computing, informal) To run a program.^[2][1]
11. (Brazil, informal) To fail, to come off badly; to be dismissed; to fail an exam.^[2]

Word family

• rodada
• rodagem

Related words

• roda
• rodear
• rotar
• Galician rodar

Usage notes

Houaiss and Aurélio record a separate verb rodar, formed on rodo (a wooden rake without teeth) with the suffix -ar, meaning to gather grain, salt or embers with a rodo;^[2][12][14] Houaiss dates it to the 15th century.^[2][12][14] Meyer-Lübke recorded this Portuguese rodar and the noun rodo among the derivatives of the Latin verb.^[5]

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 f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rodar
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rodar
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rouer
8. ^ 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. rodado
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rodar
10. ^ 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. rodar
11. ^ 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, 352
12. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rodar
13. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. rodar
14. ^ 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. rodar