corona

Forms

corona f (plural coronas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish corona, inherited from Latin corōna (“wreath, garland, crown”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word is a borrowing of Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē), the word for the crow, which was used for all kinds of curved or hooked objects, such as the tip of a bow and a door handle, and occasionally for a kind of crown.^[5][1][6][7] Bénaben and the DHLF present the borrowing as probable, and explain the sense by the shape of the crow's beak.^[8][7]

The same Latin word is Portuguese coroa (older corõa), Galician coroa, Asturian corona, French couronne, Italian corona and Romanian cunună.^{[9][10][1][11]}

Wiktionary's entry for the Greek word traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂- (“crow, raven”), a word of imitative origin, the curved objects being “shaped like a crow's beak or claws”; its entry for the Latin word and Gómez de Silva instead derive it from *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).^[1][12] Covarrubias reports an older opinion that derived it from the Latin word for a chorus, chorus, because dancers in a ring wore crowns.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), where a man tells David that he has killed King Saul and shows him corona que tenia en su cabeça “the crown he had on his head”.^[14] The Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (c. 1215) uses the word for the tonsure of monks: Grandes abián las coronas “they had large tonsures”.^[14][15] Corominas dates the first record to Berceo, 1220–1250.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose corona is a crown or wreath, the crown of the head, the tonsure of clerics and the royal dignity itself.^[16] The Cantar de mio Cid already has coronado for a tonsured cleric.^[2] From the 14th century a copper coin stamped with a crown was called cornado.^[2][3] The Academy's 1817 edition lists a gold coin called corona current under Juan II of Castile, a silver coin of Enrique II, and the sense “kingdom, monarchy”, as in la corona de España.^[17] Covarrubias in 1611 explains the coin's name either by a crown engraved on it or by its fine gold, like that of the Roman triumphal crowns.^[13] By 1869 the Academy also had the rosary of seven decades said to the Virgin and a coloured ring around the Sun or Moon.^[18] Alemany in 1917 lists the English crown, the Portuguese and German gold coins and the Austro-Hungarian crown.^[19]

Modern senses include the currencies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the winding crown of a watch, the crown of a tooth and the Crown as the head of state of a monarchy.^[4][20] In Cuba, Puerto Rico and Honduras the plural names the top leaves of the tobacco plant, and in Puerto Rico the crown of a pineapple; in El Salvador and Bolivia it is also a woman who deceives men.^[21][22] In Leonese the word names, among other things, the crown of the head, the cup of an acorn and the halo of the Moon.^[23]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has corona “crown”.^[14]
• c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca uses it for monks' tonsures.^[14]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses the word; the first date according to Corominas.^[2][3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of kings setting stones in their crowns.^[16]
• 14th century – first record of cornado, a coin bearing a crown.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin corona and anadema.^[24]
• 1521 – the first record from the Americas, la Corona Real in Puerto Rico.^[25]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the name of the gold coin corona.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary has the senses “gold coin” and “kingdom, monarchy”.^[17]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the rosary and the luminous ring around the Sun or Moon.^[18]
• 2020 – corona appears as a clipping of coronavirus.^[26]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crown or wreath: a ring of flowers, branches or metal worn on the head as an ornament, an honour or a sign of dignity or royalty: La reina lucía una corona de oro y rubíes.^[4][1]
2. A ring of flowers or leaves, such as a funeral wreath: Mandaron una corona de claveles al cementerio.^[4][27]
3. Something round, especially at the top of something.^[4]
4. A halo (aureola) round the head of holy images.^[4]
5. The crown of the head (coronilla).^[4]
6. The monetary unit of several countries, such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden.^[4][1]
7. (astronomy) A luminous ring round the Sun or Moon (halo); the solar corona.^[4][1]
8. A washer (arandela).^[4][1]
9. The small toothed wheel used to wind or set a watch.^[4]
10. (dentistry) An artificial piece that protects or replaces the crown of a tooth.^[4][20]
11. The royal dignity; in a monarchy, the body that is head of state; a kingdom or monarchy.^[4][28]
12. (mechanics) The larger wheel of a pair of gears; a bicycle sprocket.^[1]
13. (informal, masculine) coronavirus: el corona.^[26][1]

Word family

• coronilla
• coronal
• coroniblanco

Related words

• corola
• coronar
• corolario
• coronavirus
• Latin corōna
• Portuguese coroa

Usage notes

Corona as a clipping of coronavirus is first recorded in February 2020 in El Mundo for the virus, and in March 2020 in ABC for the disease it causes.^[26] In this use it is masculine and takes the definite article: el corona.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 199
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. corona
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. corona
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. couronne
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. corona
9. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 996
11. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. corona
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. corona
13. ^ 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), p. 520
14. ^ 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. corona
15. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. corona
16. ^ 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. corona
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 243
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 213
19. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 459
20. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. corona
21. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. corona
22. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. corona
23. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. corona
24. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 318
25. ^ 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. corona
26. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle
27. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. corona
28. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. corona