clar

Forms

clar (feminine clara, masculine plural clars, feminine plural clares)^[1] The word is pronounced klà in the Principality, the Balearic Islands and the Maestrat;^[1] klàr, with the /r/ sounded, is Valencian and also general in Roussillon.^[2] Coromines explains the loss of /r/, unusual in monosyllables such as pur and cor, by the frequency of the plural clars, where /r/ before /s/ was dropped early.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin clārus (“bright, clear”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Old Occitan clar, French clair, Italian chiaro and Spanish claro.^[6][7]

The Latin adjective meant “loud, sonorous” before “bright”: de Vaan reconstructs *klāro- (“loud”) and *klh₁-ro- (“loud, sonorous”), and compares the same change of sense in hel (“loud”), modern hell.^[8] Wiktionary relates it to clāmō (“to shout”) and calō (“to call”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines finds the word in the 13th century in Llull, Desclot, the Costums de Tortosa and the Consolat de Mar.^[2] In Blanquerna Llull writes Clar fo lo temps, “the weather was clear”, and Desclot has the gates still shut because it was not yet dia clar, broad daylight.^[2][9] The Costums de Tortosa already use it figuratively, of a thing that is plain and evident.^[2] Bruguera and the GDLC date it only to the 14th century, with Llull.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts the word meant both “bright” and “clear, evident”, and of water “not cloudy”.^[2] In 1380 the Infante John asks the prior of Montserrat for good wine e clar, light in colour and body, as in France.^[10] In the 15th century it took the sense “not thick or compact”, whence “sparse, scattered” (clares vegades, at the end of the century), a sense still used in Mallorca, Menorca and Valencia;^[11] Old French, some Occitan dialects and Venetian share it.^[2] Medieval texts also used lo clar de l'ou for the white of an egg.^[10]

Bruguera dates the derivatives claredat and clarejar to the 14th century and clara to about 1400;^[11] clarí (1620) came from Spanish clarín and clarinet (1803) from Italian clarinetto.^[4] Adverbial phrases include de clar en clar, “now and then”, in Marià Vayreda.^[2]

Timeline

• 13th century – Llull, Desclot and the Costums de Tortosa use clar.^[2]
• 1250–1299 – clar in the Catalan Dialogues of Saint Gregory.^[11]
• 1380 – a letter of the Infante John asks for wine bon e clar.^[10]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge's Lo somni has haver per clar, “to hold as certain”.^[10]
• 1460 – the Tirant lo Blanch has de clar, “clearly, unambiguously”.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bright, full of light; of the weather or the sky, clear.^[5][3][1]
2. light in colour, not dark.^[5][3][1]
3. Of a liquid, clear, not cloudy.^[5][3]
4. Easy to understand or perceive; evident.^[5][3][1]
5. Thin, not dense or compact; sparse.^[3][2]
6. Illustrious, famous.^[3]

Adverb

1. clearly; plainly, frankly: parlar clar.^[12][3]

Word family

• aclarir
• clara
• clarament
• claredat
• clarejar
• clariana

Related words

• claror
• Latin clarus
• Spanish claro
• French clair

Usage notes

Clar i net and clar i català mean “plainly, without beating about the bush”.^[12]

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 f g h i j k 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, 736
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. clar
4. ^ a b c Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 213
5. ^ a b c d e f Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. clar
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1963
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 95
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. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. clar
10. ^ a b c d e Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. clar
11. ^ a b c Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. clar
12. ^ 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. clar