carn

Forms

carn f (uncountable)^[1] The DCVB records the pronunciations /káɾn/ and /kán/, the second without the /r/.^[2] Wiktionary gives [ˈkarn] for most dialects and [ˈkaɾn] for Valencian.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carō (“flesh, meat”), genitive ⟨carnis⟩;^{[3][2][4][5][1]} Wiktionary and the DCVB name the oblique form ⟨carnem⟩, ⟨carne⟩ as the one continued.^{[3][2][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan carn, Spanish carne, Portuguese carne, French chair, Italian carne and Romanian carne.^[6][1] The troubadours wrote Old Occitan carn as well.^[7][8] In the sense of meat as food, most of France replaced its form of the word with French viande.^[6]

Wiktionary takes the Latin noun from Proto-Italic *karō and Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).^[1] De Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Italic noun for 'piece of meat' and a Proto-Indo-European *k(e)rH-n- (“piece”), with Umbrian and Oscan relatives meaning 'part' and Celtic and Baltic verbs meaning 'to separate', such as Lithuanian skìrti (“to separate”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines's first record is a document of 1047–1098 that speaks of una soldada de carn, a payment in meat; further examples follow in 1090 and 1161.^[3] In these documents the word has one of its basic senses, the flesh of animals used as food.^[3] The sense “the human body, as opposed to the spirit” appears in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval texts use carn for the meat of land animals as opposed to fish, for muscular tissue, for the soft part of the body round the bones, for a human being, and for sensuality and the lusts of the flesh;^[10] color de carn was a pale pink.^[10] Coromines notes that names for the meat of each animal (carn de bou, de porc …) appear in the dictionaries from the Catalan–Spanish Nebrija of 1507, and that carns fiambres in Tirant lo Blanc is a Castilianism.^[3] Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 counts the flesh as one of the three enemies of the soul.^[11]

The derivatives are old: carnal in the Homilies, cansalada “salt pork” (from carn and salada) about 1200, carnatge and carnisseria in the Customs of Tortosa of 1272, carnisser in Llull, carnut in the Tirant and descarnar in Roig's Spill.^[4] Carnalatge was the meat animals collectively and a tithe paid on them;^[3] Mallorca still calls the time outside Lent carnal.^[3]

Timeline

• 1047–1098 – una soldada de carn in a document.^[3]
• 1090, 1161 – further examples in documents.^[3]
• 12th century – the Homilies d'Organyà use the word for the body as opposed to the spirit;^[3][4] carnal in the same text.^[3][4]
• c. 1200 – first record of cansalada.^[4]
• 1272 – carnatge and carnisseria in the Customs of Tortosa.^[4]
• 1381 – the Cercapou lists the foods God gave man.^[10]
• 1440 – Curial e Güelfa describes a knight de poques carns, lean.^[10]
• 1460 – the Tirant lo Blanc names the flesh among the enemies of the soul.^[10]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary.^[11]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. flesh: the muscles of the body of humans and animals, as opposed to the bones and skin, usually not counting the viscera.^[13][5]
2. meat: the flesh of animals eaten as food.^[5][2][14]
3. The soft edible part of a fruit, its pulp.^[2][5]
4. The body, as opposed to the spirit; carnal desire, sensuality.^[2][10]
5. Human nature, in contrast with the divine.^[2]

Word family

• acarnissar-se
• carnada
• carnadura
• carnal
• carnalatge
• carnassa
• carnatge
• carner
• carnisser
• carnisseria
• carnut
• descarnar
• encarnar
• cansalada

Related words

• carnaval
• carnestoltes
• carni
• carnívor
• carnós
• Latin carō
• Occitan carn
• Spanish carne

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. carn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 577
4. ^ a b c d e f g Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 183
5. ^ a b c d e Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. carn
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Raynouard, François-Just-Marie (1838–1844), Lexique roman, ou dictionnaire de la langue des troubadours, 6 vols., Paris: Silvestre, p. 2, 339
8. ^ Stempel, Wolf-Dieter et al., Dictionnaire de l'occitan médiéval (DOM), Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, https://dom-en-ligne.de, p. s.v. carn
9. ^ 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. carō
10. ^ a b c d e f Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. carn
11. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. carn
12. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. carn
13. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. carn
14. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. carn