collar

Forms

collar m (plural collares)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin collāre (“collar, neckband”), the noun use of the adjective collāris (“of the neck”), which is derived from collum (“neck”).^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary classes the noun as Late Latin.^[1] The word for the neck itself continued as cuello.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese colar, Galician colar, Catalan collar, Occitan colar, Old French coler and Italian collare.^[6][7][1] French collier goes back to the variant collārium.^[5][6]

The origin of the Latin word for the neck is uncertain;^[1] Wiktionary tentatively derives it from Proto-Italic *kʷolsom, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn”), comparing Proto-Germanic *halsaz (“neck”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), in the rules for sharing booty: Cadenas con XII collares ayan entrega raçion “chains with twelve collars shall have a full share”, collars for leading captives.^[8] The same clause recurs in the fueros of Cuenca and Béjar.^[8] Corominas gives 1255 as the first date.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the hunting treatise Moamín (1250) collar is both a band put round an animal's neck and the ring of feathers on a hawk's neck, and in Calila e Dimna a despised dog wears a collar and bells.^[9][8] The sense “woman's necklace” is recorded from the 15th century, in a Latin–Spanish glossary of about 1400 and in Alfonso de Palencia's Vocabulario.^[10] Nebrija's collar de vestido is the neckband of a garment, a sense the Academy later marked obsolete.^[11][12]

Covarrubias in 1611 notes that collars were once given as prizes to soldiers, and records the phrase tener sus puntas y collar “to be presumptuous”.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades describes collars of gold and precious stones, leather or tin collars for animals, and iron collars for criminals and runaway slaves.^[14] The Academy added the collar of orders of knighthood in 1817, and Alemany in 1917 the feather band of birds and the collar of a machine.^[12][15] In Chile collar has been used for the harness piece called horcate, and in Cuba and Mexico for the collera of draught animals.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes mentions chains with collars.^[8]
• 1250 – the Moamín uses collar for an animal's collar and for a hawk's neck feathers.^[9]
• 1255 – the first date given by Corominas.^[2]
• c. 1400 – a Latin–Spanish glossary translates torques as collar.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija has collar de vestido.^[11]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, a necklace of dog's teeth in Puerto Rico.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records collars as soldiers' prizes.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary adds the insignia of orders such as the Golden Fleece.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology, from Latin collare and collum.^[18]
• 1917 – Alemany records the feather band of birds and the collar of a machine.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A necklace: an ornament worn round the neck: Le regaló un collar de coral por su cumpleaños.^[3][1][19]
2. The chain or insignia of certain offices, dignities and orders of knighthood.^[3][19]
3. A band of differently coloured feathers round the neck of some birds.^[3]
4. A collar for an animal, usually of leather, for ornament, restraint or protection: Le pusimos al gato un collar con cascabel.^[3][1]
5. (historical) An iron ring put round the neck of criminals as a punishment and of slaves as a sign of servitude.^[3]
6. (heraldry) An ornament surrounding a shield, from which the corresponding decoration hangs.^[3]
7. (mechanics) A clamp or ring (abrazadera).^[3][20]
8. (obsolete) The part of a garment round the neck.^[3][11]

Word family

• collarín
• acollarar

Related words

• cuello
• Latin collum
• Portuguese colar

Usage notes

Ser los mismos perros con distintos collares says that people or things have changed only in appearance.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuello
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. collar
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 131
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. collāre
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. colar
8. ^ 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. collar
9. ^ 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), p. s.v. collar
10. ^ 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. 722
11. ^ a b c Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 315
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 214
13. ^ 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. 485
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 416
15. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 414
16. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 381
17. ^ 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. collar
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 260
19. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. collar
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. collar