corro

Forms

corro m (plural corros)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][3] Corominas thinks it most probably a back-formation from Spanish corral, as if the longer noun were a collective: the shorter word is rare in the Middle Ages and has a smaller range, being absent from Catalan and Occitan, which have the longer noun.^[2][4] Bénaben agrees.^[5] corral itself may come from Vulgar Latin *currale, “racecourse” or “place where vehicles are kept”, from Latin currus (“chariot”).^[2][4] The DLE suggests, tentatively that the word comes straight from the Latin noun, and Wiktionary derives it from that word.^[3][1]

Other proposals: Nebrija, the Diccionario de Autoridades and Sarmiento derived it from chorus (“dance in a ring”), from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós), looking at the sense “ring dance”;^[6] Corominas does not think this impossible.^[2][6] García de Diego, Alonso and Alemany take it from correr, as a deverbal noun like socorro, but Corominas finds it too surprising that such a late type of formation had already reached the sense “enclosure by a farmhouse” in the 10th century.^[7][8][9][2] Krüger saw in it a pre-Roman word meaning “twisted withy” and then “round enclosure”, comparing a Celtic root meaning “circle of stones”;^[1] Corominas thought this worth reflection but doubted it, since the Celtic root has a single /r/.^[2]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *korzos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”), from the root *ḱers- (“to run”).^[1] The Spanish word matches old Portuguese corro “bullring, arena”, today curro, and Galician curro “small corral”;^[10] Valencian borrowed it from Castilian in the 15th century for the ring of a bullfight.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's only early example is a charter of Valpuesta of 975, which lists casas cum solare, corro, hera, orto vel exitos “houses with their plot, corro, threshing floor, garden or ways out”, where the word seems to mean “corral”; the Breve diccionario counts it only as a possible record.^[2][4] Alfonso X's General Estoria (1280) has it for a ring of people in dance: estonces se alegrara la uirgen en el corro “then the virgin shall rejoice in the ring”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The sense “ring of people” spread in the 15th century: the Danza de la Muerte (c. 1400) has death nos meta en su corro “put us in its ring”, and Nebrija gives corro de moços “ring of boys” as Latin chorus, chorea, and corro del toro as harena, the arena of a bullfight.^[8][2][10] Covarrubias in 1611 explained it by the dances that were held in rings, and recorded echar una cosa en el corro “to say something in public to see how it is taken”, which the Academy still records.^[12][3] The proverb bailo bien y echáisme del corro “I dance well and you throw me out of the ring”, about the deserving being slighted, is found from 1587.^[2][13]

The Academy added the sense “circular or nearly circular space” in 1899, and later the children's game of ring-a-ring.^[14][15] Moliner also gives a patch of a surface that differs from the rest and a small field for cultivation.^[16] Regional senses include a pen or enclosure for livestock in León^[17] and the stock-exchange ring where brokers trade the same securities.^[18]

Timeline

• 975 – a Latin charter of Valpuesta lists a Romance corro beside a threshing floor and a garden, apparently a corral.^[2]
• 1280 – Alfonso X's General Estoria uses it for a ring of dancers.^[11]
• c. 1400 – the Danza de la Muerte speaks of death's corro.^[8]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records corro de moços and corro del toro.^[2][10]
• 1548 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, of natives dancing arm in arm en corro.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records echar una cosa en el corro.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from Greek chorós “dance”; in 1899, from Latin chorus.^[20][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ring or circle of people gathered to talk, watch or enjoy themselves: Los vecinos hicieron corro alrededor del músico.^[3][16][1]
2. The space enclosed by such a ring.^[3]
3. A circular or nearly circular space.^[3]
4. A children's game in which the players hold hands in a circle and turn round singing; ring-a-ring-a-roses: jugar al corro.^[3][16]
5. A patch of a surface that differs from the rest.^[16]
6. (finance) In a stock exchange, the group of brokers who trade the same securities.^[18]

Word family

• corrillo

Related words

• corral
• coro
• Latin currus

Usage notes

Set phrases: echar en corro “to say something in public to see its effect”, escupir en corro “to butt into a conversation” and hacer corro “to make room by moving people aside”.^[3][13] In Alfonso X's Estoria de España corro also means “relief, supplies brought to troops”.^[11] In Salamanca a corro is a hollow wooden cylinder in which children learn to walk, a word Corominas separates from this one.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 202
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. corro
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. corral
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. corro
6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 620
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2049
8. ^ a b c 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. 795
9. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 463
10. ^ a b c Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 319
11. ^ 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. corro
12. ^ 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. 522
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 246
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 276
15. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. corro
16. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. corro
17. ^ 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. corro
18. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. corro
19. ^ 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. corro
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 298