carnal

Forms

carnal m or f (masculine and feminine plural carnales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin carnālis (“of the flesh, fleshly”).^[1][2][3][4] The Latin adjective is formed of carō (“flesh”) and the suffix -ālis.^[1][5] It belongs to the language of the Church, as the opposite of spīritālis (“spiritual”), and Gómez de Silva describes it as a translation of Ancient Greek σαρκικός (sarkikós, “fleshly”).^[6][3] De Vaan traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *kerH-n- (“piece”).^[7] Corominas lists the adjective among the derivatives of carne, dating it from Berceo.^[8][9]

The same Latin word is Portuguese carnal, Galician carnal, Catalan carnal, Occitan carnal, French charnel and Italian carnale.^[10][1] Starting from fratello carnale (“brother by blood”), Italian also uses it for “affectionate”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is La fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in God's words before the Flood: Non remandra myo spiritu en omne carnal “my spirit shall not remain in fleshly man”.^[11] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) has the adverb carnal mientre, of a husband who knows his wife carnally.^[11] Corominas dates the word from Berceo, who uses it of what is mortal and of human nature.^[8][9][12]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used it for what belongs to the flesh or to this world as opposed to the spiritual, for kinship by blood (Alfonso X's parient caronal) and for a mortal of flesh and bone.^[13][14][4] Covarrubias (1611) adds the noun carnal, the time of year when meat is eaten as opposed to Lent, and explains hermano carnal as a brother by father and mother.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1729) has the senses “of the flesh”, “lustful”, the most common, and “earthly, worldly”.^[16] The Academy kept the noun for the time outside Lent, and the sense “carnival” is now marked as obsolete.^[2][17]

The expressions hermano carnal and primo carnal “first cousin” gave the Mexican noun carnal “brother” and then “close friend, mate”, with the feminine carnala.^[1][18][19] The sense “close friend” is also found in Central America, Venezuela and Argentina, in the Dominican Republic and in New Mexico.^[18][20][21] In Asturias Rato recorded it in 1891 for an affectionate person.^[22]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – La fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy): omne carnal.^[11]
• 1218–c. 1250 – Fuero de Zorita de los Canes: carnal mientre.^[11]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo, the first record Corominas gives.^[9]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria: parient caronal “a blood relation”.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija distinguishes carnal “of flesh” from carnal “not spiritual”.^[23][24]
• 1554 – the first record in the Americas, in Mexico City: aceso carnal.^[25]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the noun for the time when meat is eaten, and hermano carnal.^[15]
• 1729 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “of the flesh”, “lustful” and “worldly”.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the flesh: el amor carnal.^[2][26]
2. lustful, lascivious; of or relating to lust: el pecado carnal.^[2][1]
3. worldly, concerned only with earthly things.^[2]
4. Related by blood, as in hermano carnal and primo carnal “first cousin”.^[2][1][19]
5. (Latin America, colloquial) Of a friend or friendship: very close.^[18]

Noun

1. The time of year that is not Lent.^[2][15]
2. (Mexico, colloquial) A brother; feminine carnala, a sister: Mi carnal llega mañana.^[18][1][19]
3. (Mexico, colloquial) A close friend, mate: ¿Qué onda, carnal?^[18][19]
4. (obsolete) Carnival.^[2]

Word family

• carnalmente
• carnalidad

Related words

• carne
• encarnar
• Latin carnālis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. carnal
3. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
4. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C.
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 878
9. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. carne
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ 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. carnal
12. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra
13. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 184
17. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe
18. ^ a b c d e Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
19. ^ a b c d Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
20. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org
21. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press
22. ^ Rato y Hevia, Apolinar de (1891), Vocabulario de las palabras y frases bables que se hablaron antiguamente y de las que hoy se hablan en el Principado de Asturias, Madrid: Manuel G. Hernández
23. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
24. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
25. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
26. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos