sang

Forms

sang f (plural sangs)^[1] Medieval texts write sanc and sanch;^[2][1] Ausiàs March has sanch.^[2][1] The DCVB records the pronunciations [saŋ] and [saŋk], with a final [k] in Balearic and Valencian, and also forms ending in a palatal.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan sanc, which is inherited from Latin sanguis (“blood”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan sang, French sang, Italian sangue, Portuguese sangue, Romanian sânge and Spanish sangre.^[6][1][7]

The Latin word was masculine in classical Latin, and it stays masculine in Portuguese, French, Sardinian, Engadine, Romanian and Italian.^[2][7] Early Latin authors used it as a neuter, ⟨sanguen⟩.^[2][7] This neuter is the source of the feminine gender of Catalan and Spanish, of southern Occitan dialects and of old Venetian, Sienese and Apulian.^[2][4][5]

De Vaan derives the Latin word from Proto-Italic *sangwen-; its first part may go back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁sh₂-én-, the oblique stem of the word for blood seen in Hittite and Sanskrit.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record Coromines gives is a nickname: Signum Berengarii Poca Sang "the mark of Berenguer Little-Blood" in the cartulary of Sant Cugat in 1145.^[2][4] It shows the word already feminine in the 12th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The masculine gender of Latin survives in some medieval texts: in Llull's rhymed works, in Desclot, in parts of the Vides de sants and in Sant Vicent Ferrer when he speaks of the blood of Christ, partly under the influence of church Latin.^[2][9] Llull's prose uses the feminine, which the common language generalised after the archaic period.^[2][9] Masculine sang is still heard in Roussillon, in the Capcir and in the far north of the Empordà, which Coromines regards as an old zone of fluctuation, as in Gascon and Languedocian, rather than as French influence.^[2] The masculine is kept in old compounds such as sangprès and sangtraït.^[5]

The derivatives are old: sangonera "leech" is recorded in the 13th century, sagnar "to bleed" in 1309 and sagnia "bloodletting" in Llull.^[4] From the physical sense the word took the figurative senses of vital force, temperament and lineage, which the DCVB and the GDLC record.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1145 – the nickname Poca Sang in the cartulary of Sant Cugat.^[2]
• 1272 – first occurrence in CICA, in the Costums de Tortosa.^[10]
• late 13th century – Llull writes that saffron fa bona sanc.^[2]
• 1309 – first record of the verb sagnar.^[4]
• 1349 – la sanc, feminine, in a Roussillon document.^[2]
• 1932 – Fabra defines the word and its figurative uses.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. blood, the red liquid that circulates through the blood vessels: Li sortia sang del dit.^[12][5][1]
2. Bloodshed; violent loss of life.^[5][3]
3. Blood cooked and eaten as food.^[3]
4. (figurative) Energy, vital force.^[5][3]
5. (figurative) Temperament, state of mind.^[5][11]
6. (figurative) lineage, race, kinship: una família de sang reial.^[5][3]

Word family

• sagnar
• sagnia
• dessagnar
• ensangonar
• sangonera
• sangonós
• sangonent
• sangassa
• sangós
• sangprès

Related words

• consanguini
• Latin sanguis
• Spanish sangre
• Occitan sang

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 k l m n 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, 652
3. ^ a b c d e f g Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. sang
4. ^ a b c d e Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 825
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. sang
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7574
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 151
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. ^ 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. 10, 44
10. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. sang
11. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. sang
12. ^ 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. sang