carroña

Forms

carroña f (plural carroñas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian carogna (“carrion”), from Vulgar Latin *carōnia (“rotten flesh”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Corominas argues that it is a loan: the Vulgar Latin word left descendants only in Italy and France, Portuguese lacks it, Catalan carronya is of the 19th century, and the Spanish word was a rare Italianism in Covarrubias's time.^[2] The bilingual dictionaries of the period lack it, and so do Cervantes, Góngora and Moratín.^[2] A native outcome would have been *carrueña, as Tuttle had pointed out.^[2][1] The doubled -rr- is found in Gascon too.^[2] The Castilian names for carrion were others: calabrina, carne mortecina and buitrera, and in Aragon carnuz.^[2][3] The Italian word is recorded from about 1225; its Romance kin are French charogne and Occitan caronha.^[6][7]

The Vulgar Latin noun is usually explained as a derivative of Latin carō (“flesh, meat”), with a suffix of unclear origin;^[1][7][8] Nocentini takes it as the feminine of a pejorative adjective formed on a variant *carō, -ōnis.^[1][7][8] Giovanni Alessio derived it instead from Ancient Greek χαρώνεια (kharṓneia), the caves full of foul vapours at the entrance to the underworld, from Χάρων (Khárōn);^[7][9][10] Corominas thinks he seems to be right, and the Breve diccionario allows that the Greek word may have been drawn into the family of the Latin word for flesh.^[2][3] Nocentini reports that Pfister rejected Alessio's etymology and Salvioni's derivation from cariēs (“decay”), which Bénaben and García de Diego also mention.^[7][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Rosal's dictionary of 1601, which notes that the word is used as an insult to an old woman.^[2][3] Covarrubias (1611) defines it as infected and rotten flesh.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word was little used until the 18th century; the Academy's dictionary has it by 1783.^[3][2] Earlier attempts to take it in had produced only secondary senses: the adjective carroño “rotten, ailing” and the verb encarroñar in Quevedo, Correas's viejo lobo carroño “sly and dull old wolf”, and caroña “proud flesh of a sore” in Reina's book of veterinary medicine (1576).^[2] The verb carroñar “to infect with mange” in Juan de Lucena's Vita beata (1463) is, for Corominas, an uncertain word, a derivative of roña.^[2]

The Academy's dictionary of 1843 defines it as rotten flesh, and Domínguez (1846) adds the rotting body of an animal.^[12][13] The figurative sense, a vile and contemptible person, idea or thing, is in the Academy's dictionary of 2001;^[6] Italian carogna had the sense “vile person” before 1494.^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1463 – an uncertain verb carroñar in Lucena's Vita beata, which Corominas derives from roña.^[2]
• 1576 – caroña “proud flesh” in Reina's veterinary book.^[2]
• 1601 – the first record, in Rosal, as an insult to an old woman.^[2][3]
• early 17th century – the adjective carroño “rotten, ailing”.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as infected and rotten flesh.^[11]
• 1783 – the word is in the Academy's dictionary.^[2]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin caruncula “piece of flesh”.^[14]
• 1925 – the first record from the Americas, in Argentina.^[15]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Italian carogna and adds the figurative sense.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. carrion: rotting flesh, especially of a dead animal: Los buitres bajaron sobre la carroña del ciervo.^[4][5][1]
2. (figurative, derogatory) A vile, contemptible (despreciable) person, idea or thing; scum.^[4][5][16]

Word family

• carroño
• carroñero

Related words

• carne
• Italian carogna
• French charogne

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 m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 898
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. carroña
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. carroña
5. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. carroña
6. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. carogna
7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. carogna
8. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. carroña
9. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. carroña
10. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. carroña
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 448
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 146
13. ^ 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. 349
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 202
15. ^ 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. carroña
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. carroña