genoll

Forms

genoll m (plural genolls)^[1] Jaume I's chronicle writes jonols and ginols, and Bernat Metge jonolls, beside genolls in Desclot and the Tirant.^[2] The Cànon of Avicenna (1350) has genoyl and ginoyl.^[3][4] The spoken forms assimilate the first vowel: junoll in Barcelona, junoi in the Vallès and the Plana de Vic, junei in the Empordà;^[2] Coromines notes that almost no one in Central Catalan says /ʒəˈnoʎ/, though the written language keeps the etymological vowel.^[2] The DCVB records many forms across the dialects, from Valencian [dʒenoʎ] to [dinoʎ].^[5] Wiktionary lists the variants ginoll and jonoll.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin genuculum (“knee”), an altered form of Latin geniculum, diminutive of genū (“knee”).^{[2][5][6][7][1]}

The same Late Latin word is Occitan genolh, French genou, Italian ginocchio, Portuguese joelho and Romanian genunchi.^[8][1] The Old Spanish word was inojo.^[9]

The Latin noun continues *genu and *ǵónu, with cognates such as Ancient Greek γόνυ (gónu).^[1][10]

Coromines rejects tracing the Empordà form ⟨junei⟩ to the Latin variant with /i/: such a survival would be unheard of in Romance, and the /u/ of its first syllable could not be explained; he takes it for an analogical form that levels the vowels of the noun and of the verb agenollar-se.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines's first records are from the great chronicles of the 13th century: in Desclot a knight dismounts before the empress and sets his knees on the ground, and in Jaume I's chronicle the envoys of Murcia kneel and kiss the king's hand.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning the word is used mostly in phrases of kneeling: de genolls, and donar de genolls en terra in the Tirant.^[2] Llull has a genolls, on one's knees.^[11] The derivative agenollar-se is in Llull, and genollera, a knee guard, is dated 1307.^[6]

Fabra defines the word as the joint of the thigh and the leg at the front.^[12] The DIEC2 adds the joint of a quadruped's foreleg between the forearm and the cannon, and the figurative de genolls, servilely.^[13]

Timeline

• 1244–1274 – jonols and ginols in Jaume I's Llibre dels fets.^[2]
• 1280s – genols in Desclot's chronicle.^[2][6]
• 1307 – the derivative genollera.^[6]
• 1350 – genoyl in the Catalan Cànon of Avicenna.^[3]
• 1398 – jonolls in Bernat Metge's Lo somni.^[2][14]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary heads the word genoll.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The knee: the joint between the thigh and the lower leg, and the region around it: L'aigua li arribava als genolls.^[13][7][1]
2. de genolls – on one's knees; figuratively, servilely.^[13]
3. The joint of a quadruped's foreleg between the forearm and the cannon.^[13][7]

Word family

• agenollar-se
• agenollament
• genollada
• genollera
• genollons
• genollut

Related words

• genuflexió
• geniculat
• Latin genū
• Occitan genolh
• French genou

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. 4, 466
3. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. genoyl
4. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. ginoyl
5. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. genoll
6. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 451
7. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. genoll
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3737
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 366
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. genoll
12. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. genoll
13. ^ a b c d 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. genoll
14. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. genoll