arnés

Forms

arnés m (plural arneses)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French harneis, modern harnais.^[2][3][4][1] The French word is probably from Old Norse *herrnest (“army provisions”), a compound of herr (“army”) and nest (“provisions for a journey”).^[3][2][4] The DHLF traces the Norse form to *harinest, with Frankish *hari (“army”), and explains the French ending as remodelled on the suffix ⟨-eis⟩, ⟨-ois⟩.^[5] Brøndal opposed this etymology.^[3] Older Spanish dictionaries derived it from a Celtic word for iron.^[6][7]

The prestige of French chivalry spread the word to other languages: Italian arnese, English harness and German Harnisch.^[5] Portuguese arnez also comes from the French.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in a prose translation of the Cantigas de Santa María made before 1284, of men who wore the swords with which a knight had been killed a carona de sus arnes “next to the skin, under their armour”.^[9] Corominas's first record is in the Cortes of 1385.^[3][4] The Cortes of León and Castile required every man worth twenty thousand maravedís or more to keep hun arnés complido “a full armour”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word also meant equipment in general: the Fueros aragoneses of 1350 require each man to bring his arneses to the works, and Juan Fernández de Heredia writes of horses and armour kept ready in each village and of arneses de cambra, household goods.^[9] Corominas glosses the old senses as defensive armour fitted to the body, each piece of a horse's harness, and household goods.^[3] Old Spanish had the verb arnesarse “to put on armour”, in the Cancionero de Baena.^[3]

By 1817 the Academy defined it as the old steel armour fastened with straps and buckles.^[10] In 1846 Domínguez also had the room where the harness of the horses was kept, and the plural for the trappings of saddle and pack animals and, figuratively, for the things needed for any purpose; the Academy gave both plural senses in 1899.^[11][6] The modern sense, a frame of straps fastened to the body to hold or carry something or someone, as in climbing or parachuting, is in the Academy's dictionary by 2001.^[12][13]

Timeline

• before 1284 – the prose translation of the Cantigas de Santa María.^[9]
• 1350 – arneses for tools or equipment in the Fueros aragoneses.^[9]
• 1385 – the Cortes, Corominas's first record.^[3][4]
• 1512 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico: 102 arneses con sus baberas y celadas.^[14]
• 1817 – the Academy defines the steel armour.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the harness of horses and the figurative plural.^[6]
• 2001 – the strap harness fastened to the body is in the Academy's dictionary.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. armour; a set of defensive pieces fastened with straps and buckles.^[2][15]
2. A harness: a frame of straps and buckles fastened to the body to hold, secure or carry something or someone: Se ajustó el arnés antes de empezar la escalada.^[2][1]
3. (also in the plural) The harness of horses and mules, the guarniciones.^[2][15]
4. (in the plural, colloquial) The things needed for some purpose; gear: Recogió sus arneses de pesca.^[2]

Word family

• guadarnés

Related words

• French harnais
• English harness

Usage notes

Blasonar del arnés, now little used, means to boast of imaginary feats of valour, and arnés tranzado was armour of jointed pieces that let the wearer move freely.^[2] guadarnés names the room where harness is kept.^[16][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. arnés
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 340
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arnés
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. harnais
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 90
7. ^ a b Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 379
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3251
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. arnés
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 86
11. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 172
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. arnés
13. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. arnés
14. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. arnés
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arnés
16. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 231