codorniz

Forms

codorniz f (plural codornices)^[1] Old Spanish wrote codornizes, codornyzes and codornises in the plural;^[2][3][4] Alfonso X's General estoria has cuodronizes and quodronizes, and one manuscript of Juan Ruiz has quadraniz.^[2][3][4] Dialect forms include cogorniz and corniz (Asturias, Santander, Burgos), cobarniz (Burgos), cogorniza and coorniza (Asturias) and cocorniz at Cespedosa (Salamanca).^[5][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish codorniz, inherited from Latin cōturnīx (“quail”).^[4][6][7][1] The same Latin word gave Portuguese codorniz and Old Occitan codornitz, and with a suffix Romanian potirniche.^[8][9] Catalan calls the bird guatlla: the REW lists codorniu, but Corominas finds it only in two Valencian texts of about 1310 and 1418 translated from Latin, and takes it for an adaptation of the Latin word.^[8][4]

Densusianu explained a Castilian variant cuaderniz and the Romanian word by a Latin variant quoturnix;^[4] Meyer-Lübke answered that this base does not solve the Romanian sound difficulty and that the Spanish form is a popular etymology.^[4] Baist cited an Old Spanish guadarniz whose ⟨gua-⟩ Corominas and the REW put down to the Catalan word and the dialect coalla.^[4][8] The REW adds that the word's development was partly disturbed by imitation of the bird's call.^[8] In the dialect form cocorniz Corominas sees coorniz with an anti-hiatus /ɡ/ (cogorniz), then reshaped as if reduplicated.^[4]

The Oxford Latin Dictionary thinks the Latin word was probably imitative in origin, and Festus already derived it from the sound of the bird's voice.^[10][11] Gómez de Silva also asks whether it imitates the quail's cry.^[12] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain and starts from an earlier cocturnīx, perhaps influenced by cōrnīx (“crow”).^[1] Plautus and Lucretius scan the first vowel long, Ovid, Martial and Juvenal short.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is in La fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century manuscript), in the story of the quails sent to the Israelites in the desert: A la viespera vinyeron codornyzes, cubrieron el albergada “In the evening quails came and covered the camp”.^[13][2] Corominas dates it to the 13th century from the Escorial Bible.^[4][6] In 1250 the Moamín, a book on hunting animals, lists quails among the birds whose meat is very good.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant the migratory game bird from the first texts to today; medieval prose names it beside partridges, turtledoves and pigeons, as food and as game.^[13][14] Nebrija gave it as ave conocida “a well-known bird”, with Latin coturnix and Greek ortyx.^[15] In 1611 Covarrubias described it as a migrant that crosses the sea in flocks and so heavily loads the ships it lands on that it puts them in danger; he also gives the names ortega, which he takes from Greek, and coalla, which he takes from French caille.^[16]

The Academy's descriptions from 1817 on compare its size with the calandra lark and gave the Linnaean name Tetrao coturnix until 1843.^[17][18] The first record in the Americas is from Mexico in 1535, among the game of the land.^[19] In Cuba the name belongs to a native bird, Colinus cubanensis, not a true Coturnix.^[20] Honduras has the codorniz careta or codorniz orejinegra, a wood-quail.^[21]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – La fazienda de Ultra Mar (13th-century manuscript) has the plural codornyzes.^[13][2]
• 1250 – the Moamín lists quails among the best meats.^[13]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria tells of a cloud of quodronizes rising from Arabia.^[3][13]
• 13th century – Corominas's first record, in the Escorial Bible.^[4][6]
• 1326 – Juan Manuel names quails among game birds in the Libro del cavallero et del escudero.^[14][13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin coturnix as its equivalent.^[15]
• 1535 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the bird's migration across the sea.^[16]
• 1817 – the Academy gives the Linnaean name Tetrao coturnix.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin coturnix, and first records the derivative guarnigón.^[22][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. quail, Coturnix coturnix: a small, short-tailed migratory game bird of the partridge family, brown with darker streaks above and greyish yellow below, common in Spain and wintering in Africa: Al amanecer salieron a cazar codornices.^[7][23][1]
2. (Cuba) A native quail-like bird, Colinus cubanensis.^[20]

Word family

• guarnigón

Related words

• perdiz
• Latin coturnix
• Portuguese codorniz

Usage notes

Codorniz is an epicene noun: the feminine names both the male and the female bird.^[24] The young bird is a guarnigón, which Corominas explains from an older *codornigón formed as perdigón is from perdiz.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. codorniz
3. ^ a b c 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), p. s.v. codorniz
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 118
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1940
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. codorniz
7. ^ a b 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. codorniz
8. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2289
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 880
10. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. coturnix
11. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. coturnix
12. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. codorniz
13. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. codorniz
14. ^ 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. 712
15. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 314
16. ^ 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. 477
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 209
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 170
19. ^ 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. codorniz
20. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 371
21. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. codorniz
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 253
23. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. codorniz
24. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. codorniz