tostar

Forms

tostar (first-person singular present tosto, first-person singular preterite tostei, past participle tostado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin tostō (“to roast, scorch”), a frequentative formed on tostus, the past participle of torreō (“to dry, scorch”).^[2][1][3][4] Nascentes and Aurélio star the Latin verb as unrecorded, but Du Cange finds it, as a synonym of the classical verb, in the medical work ascribed to Plinius Valerianus and in the glossary of Papias.^[5][6][7]

The same Latin verb is Spanish tostar, Italian tostare and Logudorese tostare.^[8][4]

The participle of the classical verb stands for an older form with -rst-.^[1] The verb itself goes back to Proto-Italic *torzeō and Proto-Indo-European *tors-éye-ti (“to make dry”), a causative of the root *ters- (“dry”).^[1][9] De Vaan compares Ancient Greek τέρσομαι (térsomai, “to become dry”) and Old High German derren (“to make dry”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Galician translation of the General Estoria has por te nõ queymar nẽ tostar “so as not to burn or scorch you”.^[10] Houaiss dates the word to the 14th century after Lorenzo, who antedated Machado's 15th-century date with this text.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) and Pereira (1697) render the verb by Latin torreo.^[11][12] Bluteau defines it as roasting much, almost to burning, and Morais (1789) as putting in the fire and drying until it nearly burns, with a quotation from Barros on the hardened stakes of the natives.^[13][14] Vieira adds “give a dark colour to”, the sense of skin burnt by the sun, and an intransitive use for staying at table after the meal to drink toasts.^[15] The DLP describes the culinary sense more narrowly, as heating a food until it turns brown and crisp.^[3]

Timeline

• 14th century – Houaiss's date, after Lorenzo, whose record is the Galician General Estoria.^[2][10]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders tostar by torreo.^[11]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau: “roast much, almost burn”.^[13]
• 1734 – Feijó: “roast much”.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais's definition, with a quotation from Barros.^[14]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira adds “darken” and the sense of drinking toasts.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, intransitive and pronominal) To toast, to burn lightly on the surface, to scorch: Tostou as fatias de pão na brasa.^[2][6][1]
2. To brown a food by heating it until it is crisp.^[3][17]
3. (transitive and pronominal) To darken, to tan strongly: O sol da praia tostou-lhe os braços.^[2][6]

Related words

• torrar
• Latin torreō
• Spanish tostar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. tostar
3. ^ 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. tostar
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. tostar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. tostar
6. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. tostar
7. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. tostare
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8813
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. torreō
10. ^ a b c 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. tostar
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. tostar
12. ^ 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. tostar
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. tostar
14. ^ 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, 471
15. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 777
16. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. tostar
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9066