ranci

Forms

ranci (feminine rància, masculine plural rancis, feminine plural ràncies)^[1] Old Catalan also had the masculine rànciu, still found in the 15th century, in Ausiàs March.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rancidus (“rotten, rancid”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The expected outcome of the Latin forms was a masculine ⟨rànceu⟩ and a feminine ⟨rància⟩; because the feminine was the commoner form (of butter, olives, bacon), its -ia spread to the masculine, giving first Old Catalan ⟨rànciu⟩ and then the present form, made regular like tebi and savi.^[2]

The same Latin word is Romanian rânced, French rance (from Occitan) and Spanish rancio.^[6][7] Meyer-Lübke wondered whether all the forms except the Romanian one might be learned.^[6]

The Latin adjective is formed from ranceō with the suffix -idus.^[8][1] Coromines derives it, with rancor, from rancēscō (“to grow rancid”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines quotes the Catalan version of Arnau de Vilanova's regimen of health, from the beginning of the 14th century, which allows a cow's-milk cheese and, at the end of a meal, a fat sheep's cheese no ranci ne massa salat “neither rancid nor too salty”.^[2][9] The word refers there to food spoilt by keeping.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the feminine is used of bacon: an inventory of Vic of 1413 has a quarter of bacon veya e rància “old and rancid”.^[2] Ausiàs March applied rànciu to a habit grown old.^[2]

The dictionaries of the 19th century give three senses: spoilt by age, old and improved by long keeping (of wine), and stingy.^[10] The Valencian dictionary of Martí Gadea adds a person whose youth is passing, as in fadrí ranci and fadrina rància, an unmarried man or woman growing old in that state.^[11] The derivatives ranciesa (1653), ranciejar (1803) and rancúnia are recorded later;^[9] rancor comes separately from Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• 1305–1310 – ranci in the Catalan version of Arnau de Vilanova's Regiment de sanitat.^[9][2]
• 1413 – rància said of bacon in an inventory of Vic.^[2][5][4]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary gives the senses “old”, “aged (of wine)” and “stingy”.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. rancid: of a fat or oil, having taken on an unpleasant smell and taste through chemical change: Aquest oli fa gust de ranci.^[12][5][3]
2. (of wine) Aged long in the cask, with a smell and taste that improve it; mellow.^[12][3][1]
3. (figurative) Very old, of long standing: un llinatge molt ranci.^[12][5]
4. (figurative) Old-fashioned, out of date.^[5][3]
5. stingy, mean.^[5][3]

Word family

• enrancir
• enranciment
• ranciejar
• ranciesa
• rancior

Related words

• rancor
• rancúnia
• Latin rancidus
• Spanish rancio

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. 7, 90
3. ^ 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. ranci
4. ^ a b c Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 777
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. ranci
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7040
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 767
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. ranci
10. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. ranci
11. ^ Martí Gadea, Joaquim (1891), Novísimo diccionario general valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. ranci
12. ^ 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. ranci