coronar

Forms

coronar (first-person singular present corono, first-person singular preterite coroné, past participle coronado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin corōnō (“to wreathe, crown”), from corōna (“garland, crown”).^[2][3][1][4] The Latin noun was borrowed from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “anything curved; a kind of crown”).^[1][4]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese coroar, Galician coroar, Catalan coronar, French couronner and Italian coronare;^[5][6][1] Romanian cununa means “to marry”.^[5][6][1] The participle coronado had a shortened form cornado, the name of a copper coin stamped with a crown.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211, in a copy of the early 13th century) speaks of Philip el maior, qui era ia rei coronado “Philip the elder, who was already a crowned king”, and has the finite verb coronolo “he crowned him”.^[8][9] The participle is older in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140), but there coronado means a tonsured cleric: el obispo don Jerónimo, coronado de prestar “the bishop Don Jerónimo, a worthy tonsured cleric”.^[8][2] The DCECH and the BDELC date the verb from Berceo.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose used it for crowning kings at the start of their reign, for rewarding, and for completing a work.^[10] Nebrija gave Latin corono and rendered león coronado as leo iubatus, a maned lion.^[11] The Autoridades defined the crowning of popes, emperors and kings, the figurative sense of finishing a work with success and applause, and coronar la muralla, manning a wall with soldiers.^[12] Terreros added the sense “to reward richly”.^[13] In 1843 the Academy recorded placing something on the top of a fortress or height and the move in draughts, and Salvá adorning the head with flowers.^[14][15]

The sense in childbirth, of the baby's head showing, was entered by Alemany in 1917.^[16] Malaret recorded the use for a spouse's unfaithfulness in the Antilles, Peru and the River Plate, and the current dictionary has it as colloquial.^[17][3] Climbing to the top of a mountain is a common modern sense.^[1][18] In Colombia, Peru and Uruguay it also means to bring off a deal, usually an illegal one, and in Honduras and El Salvador to lay flowers on a grave.^[19] In dentistry it means to fit a crown on a tooth.^[20]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has coronado “tonsured cleric” (in a 14th-century copy).^[8][2]
• c. 1194–1211 – the Liber Regum has rei coronado and coronolo.^[8][9]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo, the BDELC's date of first record.^[7][2]
• 1254 – the Fuero Juzgo of Alfonso X uses it for crowning kings and for rewarding.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives corono and leo iubatus for león coronado.^[11][21]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “to crowne”.^[22]
• 1726–1739 – the Autoridades records the figurative sense and coronar la muralla.^[12]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the sense of placing something on top and the move in draughts.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology, Latin coronare.^[23]
• 1917 – Alemany records the reflexive sense in childbirth.^[16]
• 1946 – Malaret records the sense of a spouse's unfaithfulness.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To crown: to put a crown on someone's head, especially on a king or emperor at the ceremony of his proclamation; also reflexive.^[3][1]
2. (draughts) To put one piece on top of another when it becomes a king.^[3]
3. (chess) To bring a pawn to the last row of the board and exchange it for any piece except the king.^[3]
4. To complete or perfect a work: Con ese premio coronó toda una vida de trabajo.^[3][18]
5. To reward (recompensar): of success or a result, to be the reward of someone's effort.^[3]
6. To put something, or get, on the top of a fortress or a height; to reach the summit: Los alpinistas coronaron la cima al amanecer.^[3][1]
7. Of a thing: to stand on the top of another: Una cruz de hierro corona la colina.^[3]
8. (colloquial) Of a person: to be unfaithful to one's partner.^[3][17]
9. (reflexive) Of a baby in childbirth: to show the head.^[3][20]

Word family

• coronamiento
• coronado

Related words

• corona
• coronación
• Latin corōna
• Portuguese coroar

Usage notes

Para coronarlo introduces a last thing that makes a bad situation worse, much like English “to crown it all”.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 f g h i j k 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. coronar
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. coronare
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. corona
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. coronar
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. coronar
10. ^ 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. coronar
11. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. coronar
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 603
13. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 527
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 199
15. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 301
16. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 460
17. ^ a b c Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 260
18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. coronar
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. coronar
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. coronar
21. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 319
22. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. s.v. coronar
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 295