tratar

Forms

tratar (first-person singular present trato, first-person singular preterite tratei, past participle tratado)^[1] The medieval language wrote tractar (from the 13th century), trautar (14th century) and traitar (15th century).^[2][3][4] The spelling tractar was still in use in the 19th century.^[1][5]

Etymology

It is a semi-learned form of the older Old Galician-Portuguese tractar, borrowed from Latin tractō (“to drag about; to handle; to manage, deal with”), the frequentative of trahō (“to pull, drag”), formed on its supine tractum.^[1][4][3][6] The medieval language also had Old Galician-Portuguese trautar “to negotiate”, found in the Crónica Troiana and still in the Leal Conselheiro of the 15th century, and Nascentes derives the present form from it;^[7][2][8][6] Lorenzo also records Old Galician-Portuguese traitar.^[7][2][8][6]

Spanish tratar is likewise a learned word, beside the popular Spanish trechar “to split fish open for salting”, while French traiter (first written traitier, about 1120) and Italian trattare come from the same Latin verb.^[9][10][1] The origin of the Latin base verb is unclear; a link with *draganą (“to drag”) is debated, since the two initial consonants do not usually correspond.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record in Lorenzo's chronology is a Galician document of 1259, deue a tractar d'anbalas partes, “he must deal on behalf of both parties”.^[2] The Crónica Troiana has tractado et outorgado “negotiated and granted” and uses trautar for “to negotiate”.^[2][7] The first sense is thus “to negotiate, handle an affair”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the sense “to have dealings with, keep company with” to 1391, and “to take care of” and “to treat an illness” to the 15th century;^[4] Cunha's index also records two 14th-century senses since lost, “to plot” and “to aspire to”.^[4] Barbosa (1611) has tratar bem and tratar mal a alguem “to treat someone well, badly”.^[11] Morais (1813) adds “to address someone as” (tratar por Excellencia, tratar por tu), “to see to” (tratar da vida, tratar da saúde), “to write or speak about a subject” and “to practise” (tratar verdade com todos “to deal truthfully with everyone”).^[12]

Modern senses include treating a substance or a crop with a product, the pronominal trata-se de “it is a matter of”, and tratar de with an infinitive, “to see to doing something”.^[4][1][13] In Brazil the verb also means “to feed” an animal.^[1]

Timeline

• 1259 – tractar in a Galician document.^[2]
• 13th century – the form tracta.^[4]
• 14th century – trautar “to negotiate”, in the Crónica Troiana.^[7][2]
• 1391 – first record of the sense “to have dealings with”.^[4]
• 1402 – tratado in a Galician document.^[2]
• 15th century – the senses “to take care of” and “to treat an illness”.^[4]
• 1518 – tratar in the Espelho de Cristina.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary translates tratar as Latin tracto.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists tratar bem and tratar mal.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais records tratar por tu and tratar da saúde.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To deal with, discuss (a subject) in speech or writing;^[4][1] (of a book, a talk) to be about: O capítulo trata da história do porto.^[4][1]
2. To talk (with someone), to discuss or debate a matter together.^[4][13]
3. To address (someone) as, with a title or form of address: tratar alguém por tu, tratar de doutor.^[4][1]
4. To have dealings with, keep company with;^[4][16] (reciprocal) to be on speaking terms.^[4][16]
5. To treat, behave towards (someone or something) in a given way.^[4][13][1]
6. To arrange, agree on, negotiate (a deal, a marriage); to trade in.^[4][1]
7. To take care of, look after (a house, children, oneself); to feed.^[4][17]
8. (medicine) To treat (a patient or an illness); (pronominal) to undergo treatment.^[4][18][1]
9. To subject (a substance, a crop, a hide) to a chemical or other process.^[1][19]
10. (pronominal, impersonal) Trata-se de: it is a matter of, the point is.^[13][1]
11. (with de and an infinitive) To see to doing something, set about it at once.^[1][13]
12. (Brazil) To feed (an animal).^[1]

Word family

• tratamento
• tratável
• tratador
• trato
• maltratar
• destratar

Related words

• traçar
• tratado
• tratativa
• trazer
• Latin tractō
• Spanish tratar

Usage notes

Tratar por tu means to address someone with the intimate pronoun tu; in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul it is said of speaking as an equal to someone one knows well.^[20][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. tractar
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. tratar
4. ^ 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. tratar
5. ^ 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, 797
6. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 503
7. ^ a b c d 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. trautar
8. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. tratar
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. tractare
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. traiter
11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. tratar
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 801
13. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. tratar
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. tratar
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. tratar
16. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. tratar
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9141
18. ^ 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. tratar
19. ^ 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. tratar
20. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. tratar