trás

Forms

trás^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin trāns (“across, beyond”), written Old Galician-Portuguese tras in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] In spoken Latin the preposition had already lost its /n/.^[5] Nascentes explains the sense: from the idea of “beyond” the word passed to that of “behind”.^[4]

The same Latin word is Galician tras, Spanish tras, Asturian tres and French très, the French word having become an intensifying adverb.^[1][6][5] The Spanish preposition is recorded in documents from 928.^[7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *trānts and is an old participle, Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂-n̥ts (“crossing”), of the root *terh₂- (“through, over”).^[8][1] Its learned doublet is the prefix trans-.^[1] Vieira notes that the prefix tras- means “behind” and the learned prefix “beyond”, as in traspor “to put behind” beside transpor “to put beyond”, though in some compounds the first is only a shortening of the second.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss gives 960 as the first date of the form tras, taking it from Machado; the record is not quoted, and Cunha dates the Portuguese word to the 13th century.^[2][3] The cantigas d'escarnho have it as a preposition meaning “behind”: Afonso Sanchez writes trás min catei “I looked behind me”, and Estevan Faian has the adverb de trás “from behind, behind one's back”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss's historical forms show tras in the 13th century and the accented trás from the 14th.^[2] In the classical language trás was a preposition and adverb for both place and time, “behind” and “after”: the old Caldas Aulete quotes Barros, leva trás si “draws after it”, and Frei Luís de Sousa, uns trás outros “one after another”.^[11][12] Bluteau (1712–1728) and Vieira (1871–1874) refer the word to the spelling traz.^[13][9]

Today the bare preposition is dated, and the word lives mainly in the phrases por trás, de trás and para trás, and in the adverb atrás.^[1][14][11] In Mozambique and in informal speech it is also a noun, “the back, the rear”.^[1]

Timeline

• 960 – Houaiss's first date for tras, after Machado.^[2]
• 13th century – first records of the Portuguese word, with trás “behind” in the cantigas d'escarnho.^[3][10]
• 14th century – the accented spelling trás appears.^[2]
• 1542 – tras in a private letter.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau refers trás to traz.^[13]
• 1813 – Morais enters trás as a preposition, with quotations from the classics.^[12]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira separates tras- from trans- in compounds.^[9]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (dated) behind, at the back of: trás a porta.^[2][16][1]
2. after, following in time or order: dia trás dia.^[2][16][17]
3. Under, behind (a false appearance): Trás o sorriso havia medo.^[2][11]
4. por trás (de): behind; behind someone's back, without their knowledge.^[2][16]
5. de trás: at the back, rear (traseiro): a porta de trás.^[11]

Noun

1. (informal, Mozambique) The back or rear of something.^[1]

Word family

• atrás
• detrás
• traseiro
• traseira
• atrasar

Related words

• trans-
• trans
• Spanish tras

Usage notes

Trás sounds the same as traz, “brings”, from trazer.^[16]

Houaiss, Aurélio and the DLP also record an interjection trás!, imitating the noise of a heavy blow or fall, of onomatopoeic origin.^{[2][16][14][4]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. trás
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. trás
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. trás
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. très
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. trás
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 605
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c 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, 795
10. ^ a b 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. trás
11. ^ a b c d Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. trás
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 799
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. trás
14. ^ a b 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. trás
15. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. trás
16. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. trás
17. ^ 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. trás