salto

Forms

salto m (plural saltos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin saltus (“a jump, leap”), written Old Galician-Portuguese salto in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Latin noun is formed from the supine stem of saliō (“to jump, leap”), with the suffix -tus that makes nouns of action.^[2][4][1]

The same Latin noun is Galician salto, Spanish salto, Catalan salt, French saut, Italian salto and Romanian salt.^[5][6] Houaiss notes that the Latin dictionaries disagree on whether the nouns for “jump” and for “wooded pasture, mountain pass” are one Latin word: Ernout and Meillet derive both from the verb, while Meyer-Lübke, Walde and Hofmann, Lewis and Short and Glare keep them apart.^[2] Romance keeps them apart in form: the woodland word gave souto and Spanish soto.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the noun in the phrase dar salto en “to fall upon, attack”: a man quis en el dar salto “wanted to set upon him”, and of an illness, o fog' en el salto deu “the fire struck him”.^[8] Lorenzo notes these 13th-century records against Machado, who knew the word only from the 15th century.^[8] The Crónica Troiana and the Miragres de Santiago have the plain sense “jump, leap”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “assault, attack” of the cantigas became “robbery on the highway, plunder”, which Houaiss dates to the 15th century.^[2][8] Houaiss dates the waterfall, a sudden drop in a river, to 1619 and the heel of a shoe to 1720.^[2] Bluteau records de salto “at a leap, suddenly” and salto a salto “by leaps”.^[9] Figurative senses followed: a sudden change of position or state, a gap in a series, and in music a leap of the voice.^[2][10]

In sport the word names the jumping events, salto em altura, salto com vara, salto triplo; in Brazil it also means the covering of a mare or cow, and informally salto no escuro “a leap in the dark”.^[2][1] Salto alone is also short for salto-alto “high heels”.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – dar salto en “to attack” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[8]
• 14th century – Houaiss's first record from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2]
• 15th century – the spelling sallto; the sense “highway robbery”.^[2][3]
• 1562 – Cardoso's dictionary lists salto.^[11]
• 1619 – the sense “waterfall”.^[2]
• 1720 – the sense “heel of a shoe”.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais defines the jump and records de salto “without passing through the steps between”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A jump, leap: a sudden movement by which a body leaves the ground to clear a space or an obstacle; pulo.^[2][13][1]
2. A bounce or rebound after striking a surface; ricochete.^[2][13]
3. The distance or height cleared in a jump.^[2][14]
4. A waterfall; queda-d'água.^[2][13][1]
5. An assault (assalto), an attack; robbery, plunder.^[2][13][15]
6. A sudden change of position or condition; an abrupt transformation: a empresa deu um salto nas vendas.^[2][13]
7. The heel of a shoe: partiu-se-lhe o salto da bota.^[2][1]
8. An interval, a gap in time or in a series; in printing, an omission of letters or words.^[2]
9. (music) A sudden rise of the voice; a melodic interval wider than a second.^[2][10]
10. (sport) A jumping event: salto em altura, salto com vara, salto triplo.^[2][1]
11. (Brazil) The covering of a mare or cow by the stallion or bull.^[2]

Word family

• saltar
• salto-alto
• salto mortal
• salto em altura
• salto com vara
• salto triplo

Related words

• assalto
• sobressalto
• souto
• Latin saltus
• Galician salto

Usage notes

Portuguese also had an older noun salto “dense wood, thicket; height, hillock”, from Latin saltus “forest pasture, wooded valley, pass”;^{[2][13][14][1]} Houaiss labels it obsolete and dates it from Figueiredo's dictionary of 1899, and its inherited form is souto.^{[2][13][14][1]} Viterbo already explained it as a hill or a wooded, overgrown place, quoting Zurara's Crónica do Conde D. Pedro: Tomarão o salto, hum pouco ante manhãa.^[16] The DLP still lists it, as a small rise of ground or a large stretch of woodland.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 t u v w x Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salto
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. salto
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7554
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. saltus
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7553
8. ^ a b c d e 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. salto
9. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salto
10. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. salto
11. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1562), Dictionarium juventuti studiosae admodum frugiferum, Coimbra: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salto
12. ^ 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, 371
13. ^ a b c d e f g Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. salto
14. ^ a b c 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. salto
15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8266
16. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 301
17. ^ 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. salto