carrera

Forms

carrera f (plural carreres)^[1] The DCVB records /kəréɾə/, /karéɾɛ/ and /karéɾa/;^[2][1] Wiktionary gives [kəˈre.ɾə] for Central and Balearic and [kaˈre.ɾa] for North-Western and Valencian.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin carrāria (“road for carts”), short for ⟨via carraria⟩ “cart road”.^[2][3][1] Coromines explains it as the adjective carrārius (“of carts”) made a noun in that phrase, and treats the word as a reconstructed form of spoken Latin;^[4][1] Wiktionary's Latin entry records it from 804.^[4][1] Bruguera, who places the word under carro, gives the same etymon.^[5]

It has descendants in all the Romance languages: Occitan carrièra, Spanish carrera, Portuguese carreira, Italian carraia, French charrière and Romanian cărare.^[4][1][6] French carrière “career” was borrowed in 1534 from Italian carriera, which probably came from Old Occitan.^[7]

The base carrus (“wagon”) was a Gallic type of wagon.^[8] Wiktionary derives it from Gaulish *karros, from Proto-Celtic *karros, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”); it is a doublet of currus (“chariot”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines finds the word in Latin documents of 951 and 998, in its original senses “road for carts” and “road between settlements”, and in the sense “street” in Latin documents of 1057 and 1151.^[4] The first vernacular text in CICA is the Usatges de Barcelona, of the first half of the 13th century.^[9] A document of 1250 from Urgell already uses the figurative sense, the way that leads to good or evil: qui-us enseynave carrera e-us tornave de mal a bé, “who showed you the way and turned you from evil to good”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Catalan carrera was very common for a town street: Llull's Fèlix tells of a recluse living on what passers-by in the carrera gave him, and the Customs of Tortosa allow everyone to set up tables in the carreres in front of his house.^[4] The same Customs use carrer beside it;^[4] Coromines suggests that the masculine form was created, or revived from Latin carrarius, to keep the street apart from the road between towns.^[4]

The figurative senses Fabra lists go back to the Middle Ages: a means of access, a distance to be covered (Jaume I: gran carrera havia d'aquel loch tro a Morela), the course one follows towards a goal (the carreres de cavalleria of Llull's book on knighthood), the course of the sun and moon, and the charge of a knight in the lists in the Tirant.^[4][10] Onofre Pou's dictionary of 1575 has the place where horses race.^[4]

In Mallorca carrera is the stretch of street in front of a house.^[4][2] In some places it still means a highway or a drove road; at Sueca the large drainage ditches of the Albufera are carreres, and at Tor the Milky Way is la Carrera de Sant Jaume.^[4] Pal·las's dictionary of 1927 has the modern senses “race”, “profession” and “ladder in a fabric”.^[11]

Timeline

• 951 – first record, in Latin documents.^[4]
• 1057 – the sense “street”, in a Latin document.^[4]
• 1200–1249 – carrera in the Usatges de Barcelona.^[9]
• 1250 – a document from Urgell uses it for the way to good.^[4]
• 1272 – carrer in the Customs of Tortosa.^[5]
• 14th century – Bruguera's first date, from Llull.^[5]
• 1460 – carreres of knights in a tournament in the Tirant lo Blanc.^[10]
• 1575 – Onofre Pou's dictionary: the place for horse races.^[4]
• 1927 – Pal·las's dictionary lists the race and the profession.^[11]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary, first sense “route”, especially at sea.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A way or route to be travelled from one place to another, especially at sea.^[13]
2. The course a person follows through life, especially in a public activity; a career.^[13][14]
3. A course of studies leading to a profession, given at a university or a special school.^[3]
4. A fast run; a race, a contest of speed.^[1][11]
5. A ladder or run in a stocking, a line of dropped stitches.^[1][15]
6. (Balearic) The stretch of street in front of a house.^[2][4]
7. (Valencia) A local road leading into a town.^[16]

Word family

• carrerada
• acarrerar
• descarrerar
• carrerany
• carrerassa

Related words

• carrer
• carro
• Latin carrus
• Occitan carrièra
• Spanish carrera

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. carrera
3. ^ a b Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. carrera
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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, 593
5. ^ a b c Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 186
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. carrera
10. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. carrera
11. ^ a b c Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. carrera
12. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. carrera
13. ^ a b 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. carrera
14. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. carrera
15. ^ [Tarongí Cortès, Josep] (1878), Diccionari mallorquí-castellà, Palma de Mallorca, p. s.v. carrera
16. ^ Ferrer Pastor, Francesc (1985), Diccionari general, València, p. s.v. carrera