menar

Forms

menar (first-person singular present meno, first-person singular preterite mení, past participle menat); root stress: (Northern) /e̞/, (Balearic) /ə/, (Central) /ɛ/, (Northwestern, Valencia) /e/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan menar, which is inherited from Latin minō (“to drive animals”), a collateral active form of the deponent minārī (“to threaten”).^[2][3][4][1] The change of meaning came from the shouts and threats with which herdsmen drive their beasts on.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary notes the sense of driving in Latin from the 2nd century, in Apuleius.^[1]

The same Latin verb is French mener, Occitan menar, Italian menare and Romanian mâna.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a 12th-century memorial of complaints of the men of Escales, in the Alt Cardener, someone came to a man's house and menà-se'n his pigs and oxen, “drove them off”.^[2] The first sense is to drive animals, and also to lead a person away by force.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Documents of the 13th century already use the verb figuratively, for conducting a lawsuit: two deeds from Tous of 1251 have menar cosa in that sense.^[2] Llull uses it often, for a dog leading a blind man and for “leading” one's grief.^[2][5] Medieval texts also have it for turning a mill or a water-wheel, for stirring, and for spending money freely.^[6][2] The stirring sense passed in central Catalan to remenar (13th century) and in Valencia to menejar.^[2][3]

The verb remained alive in every medieval writer and through the following centuries; it fell back in the popular speech of Barcelona, but the literary language kept it, as in Verdaguer and Carner.^[2] In Valencian irrigated land it is used of a channel that brings water to a part of the district.^[2]

Timeline

• 1100s – menà-se'n in a memorial of complaints from Escales.^[2]
• 1200–1249 – menar in the Usatges de Barcelona.^[7]
• 1251 – menar cosa “to conduct a lawsuit” in deeds from Tous.^[2]
• 1284 – a tariff of Perpignan lists ladles a menar, for stirring.^[6]
• 1325 – Muntaner has the almugavars spending florins as freely com hom menaria los diners menuts.^[6]
• 1493 – menador is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lead, drive or take, especially animals or a vehicle: Cada matí mena les cabres a la muntanya.^[8][4]
2. To direct, guide or run: menar la dansa, menar el taller.^[8][4]
3. Of a road: to lead to a place.^[9][4]
4. (pronominal) menar-se'n, to take someone away with one.^[8]

Word family

• emmenar
• menador
• remenar
• remenada
• remenador

Related words

• Latin minō
• French mener
• Occitan menar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 5, 569
3. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 583
4. ^ 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. menar
5. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. menar
6. ^ a b c Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. menar
7. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. menar
8. ^ a b c 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. menar
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. menar