graner

Forms

graner m (plural graners)^[1] The DCVB records the pronunciations gɾəné and gɾané, and gɾanéɾ with the final /r/ sounded.^[2] A medieval Gospel of Luke has the plural granés.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin grānārium (“granary”).^[2][1] The Latin word is formed from grānum (“grain”) and the suffix -ārium, and was used mostly in the plural.^[4][5] The GDLC instead treats the Catalan word as a derivative of gra.^[6]

The same Latin word is Italian granaio, French grenier, Occitan granièr and Spanish granero.^[7][1] Wiktionary counts Spanish granel, later borrowed into Catalan, as a doublet of the word.^[1] Coromines rejects a Catalan ⟨granell⟩ in the sense of a granary: it is a clumsy adaptation of the Spanish word by an unreliable lexicographer.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Ramon Llull: in the Llibre de contemplació he calls blessed those who open their granaries and grain pits in a time of dearth (qui en temps de carestia obren lurs graners e lurs ciges).^[9] In Blanquerna (1272) the cellarer of a monastery goes into its granaries.^[3] CICA's first records are from the second half of the 13th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use the word for the store where grain was kept, which was often the top part of a house, under the roof; an inventory of 1404 mentions a room near the granaries.^[3] It also meant a chest or bin for grain: a record of 1321 from Prats de Molló lists making vats, vessels, chests and graners, and an inventory of 1523 counts grain held in four graners de canya, bins of cane.^[3] Coromines notes that the word is still used across the whole language area, up to the head of the Pallars.^[8]

The figurative sense of a land rich in grain, which supplies others, is in Figuera's Mallorcan dictionary of 1840 and in Martí Gadea's of 1891.^[11][12] Figuera also gives graner de tafona, the place in an olive mill where the olives are put.^[11] The DCVB adds a pit where the olive crop is stored, the place where potters keep their clay, and a broom of heather.^[2] In Northern Catalan the word can mean the attic.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1271 – Ramon Llull uses graners in the Llibre de contemplació.^[9]
• 1272 – Llull's Blanquerna has the granaries of a monastery.^[3]
• 1321 – graners, chests for grain, in a record from Prats de Molló.^[3]
• 1404 – an inventory of the hospital of Barcelona mentions the granaries under the roof.^[3]
• 1840 – Figuera records the sense of a land rich in grain.^[11]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary gives the place where grain is kept and, figuratively, a land rich in grain.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A granary or barn, a place or building where grain is stored.^[15][6]
2. (figurative) A region that produces grain in abundance: La plana era el graner de tot el país.^[15][6]

Related words

• gra
• granera
• granja
• Latin grānārium
• Spanish granero
• French grenier

Usage notes

A second graner (feminine granera), derived from gra, means a dealer in grain.^[2][16] Pal·las's dictionary of 1927 already gives this sense.^[17] The DCVB also records Graner as a surname.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. graner
3. ^ a b c d e f g Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. graner
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. graner
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. grānārium
8. ^ a b 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, 594
9. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. graner
10. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. graner
11. ^ a b c Figuera, Pere Antoni (1840), Diccionari mallorquí-castellà, Palma de Mallorca, p. s.v. graner
12. ^ Martí Gadea, Joaquim (1891), Novísimo diccionario general valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. graner
13. ^ Viccionari (Catalan Wiktionary), https://ca.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. graner
14. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. graner
15. ^ 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. graner
16. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. graner
17. ^ Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. graner