clarete

Forms

clarete m (plural claretes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French claret (“clear (wine), light red wine”).^[2][3][4][5] The DLE notes that the Old French word still lives on beside the more modern French form clairet.^[2] English took the same Old French word as claret in the mid-15th century.^[6]

Bénaben traces the French word to Medieval Latin clārātum, a drink made of honey and spices.^[7] Etymonline derives it from Latin clārus (“clear”) directly.^[6] The Academy's Autoridades treated the word as a Spanish diminutive of claro, and García de Diego and the Spanish Wiktionary still derive it from that adjective with the suffix -ete.^[8][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alonso's medieval dictionary quotes Fray Juan López's Libro de los Evangelios of 1490, which speaks of a tavern of vino clarete, a red wine of light colour.^[11] In 1499 Fernández de Santaella's Vocabulario eclesiástico compares the colour of a stone to vino bermejo clarete “light red wine”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The word has always been used of wine, first as an adjective in vino clarete and then also as a noun.^[8][2] Sixteenth-century texts list clarete beside white, red and spiced wines.^[12] It crossed early to the Americas: a record of 1568 from Guatemala mentions cups of clarete, and a Chilean text of 1615 praises the claretes of Santiago.^[13]

The Academy defined it from Autoridades onwards as a red wine somewhat light in colour.^[8][14] Domínguez in 1846 also used it as an adjective for a colour between white and red.^[15] In current usage it names a red wine paler than usual, made with a share of white grapes.^[16][10]

Timeline

• 1490 – Fray Juan López's Libro de los Evangelios mentions vino clarete.^[11]
• 1499 – Fernández de Santaella uses vino bermejo clarete to describe a colour.^[12]
• 1568 – first record in the Americas, in Guatemala.^[13]
• 1591 – the date Corominas gives for the first record.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as a diminutive of claro used of slightly red wine.^[8]
• 1817 – the Academy describes it as a kind of red wine somewhat light in colour.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. claret: a light red wine, between red and rosé in colour: Pidió una botella de clarete para la cena.^[2][16][1]

Adjective

1. Of wine: red but lighter in colour than usual, as in vino clarete.^[16][5]

Related words

• claro
• French clairet
• English claret

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. clarete
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. claro
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 95
5. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. clarete
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. clarete
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 367
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. clarete
10. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. clarete
11. ^ 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. 701
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. clarete
13. ^ a b 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. clarete
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 204
15. ^ 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. 395
16. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. clarete