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cuerno

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word cuerno

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
945 a charter in Oelschläger's list More words from the 10th century
Inherited from
Latin cornu
Ultimate origin
Latin cornū
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cornū
Italian corno
Romanian corn
Spanish cuerno
From the same root
English unicorn ← cornū
Latin bicornis ← cornū
Latin Capricornus ← cornū
Latin cornicen ← cornū
Latin corniger ← cornū
Latin cornipes ← cornū
Latin cornūcōpia ← cornū
Latin ūnicornis ← cornū

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkweɾno/, [ˈkweɾ.no][1]

Forms

cuerno m (plural cuernos)[1] Old Spanish texts also have corno and the spelling cuerrno.[2] The Latin neuter plural survives as the feminine cuerna “set of horns; horn vessel”.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cornū (“horn”).[5][6][7][1] The stressed short /o/ of the Latin word became the diphthong /we/, as in the other words of this type.[5][8]

The same Latin word is Portuguese corno, Galician corno, Asturian cuernu, Aragonese cuerno, Catalan corn, Occitan còrn, Italian corno and Romanian corn.[3][4][1] The Latin neuter plural, cornua, gave the feminine cuerna, Portuguese corna, French corne and Italian corna.[4][3]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *kornū, and de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥n-u-, from an older o-stem *ḱr̥n-o-.[9] Its cognates include the Celtic words for “trumpet” and “hoof”, Sanskrit शृङ्ग (śṛ́ṅga, “horn”) and English horn.[9][1] Wiktionary traces the family to *ḱerh₂- (“horn”), the root also of Latin cervus (“deer”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 945 in Oelschläger's list, followed by Berceo.[5][6] DEMel has cuerno in a document of the Oña collection dated 1011.[2] The earliest CDH context is the Fuero de Madrid (in a copy of the first half of the 13th century): a rule on tying an animal with one rope to the cuernos “horns” and another to the foot.[10] In Berceo's Milagros (c. 1255) the devil, in the form of a bull, threatens to drive his cuernos through a man's heart.[5][11]

Semantic evolution

Early texts already used the word for the horn blown as an instrument: the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200) has voz de cuerno for the sound of the horn at Sinai.[10] In the prose of Alfonso X it also names the horns of the crescent moon and other pointed ends.[12]

The Diccionario de Autoridades (1729) listed the animal's horn, a side or wing (el cuerno derecho del Altar, the wing of an army) and a twisted trumpet.[13][14] The plural cuernos as the sign of a deceived husband is recorded in the Americas from 1539 (su mujer le ponía los cuernos).[15] Moliner describes this as a symbolic use in expressions such as poner los cuernos.[16]

In Mexico and Honduras cuerno (and cuernito) is a croissant, and in Mexico cuerno de chivo is an assault rifle.[17][1]

Timeline

  • 945 – first record, in a charter.[5][6]
  • 1011 – cuerno in a document of the Oña collection.[2]
  • c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar uses it for the horn as an instrument (in a 13th-century copy).[10]
  • 1219 – first record of cornudo “horned”.[6]
  • c. 1255 – Berceo's Milagros uses it for a bull's horns.[11][18]
  • 1254–1260 – Alfonso X's astronomical works use it for the horns of the moon.[12]
  • 1495 – first record of cornear “to butt with the horns”.[6]
  • 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin cornu for cuerno de animales.[19]
  • 1539 – the expression poner los cuernos is recorded in New Granada.[15]
  • 1543 – first record of cornada “goring”.[6]
  • 1729 – the Diccionario de Autoridades lists the horn, the side or wing, and the trumpet.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A horn: the bony growth covered with a hard sheath on the head of some animals.[7][1]
  2. The horn of a rhinoceros (rinoceronte).[7]
  3. (zoology) An antenna of an insect or a snail: El caracol escondió los cuernos.[7][16]
  4. (music) A curved wind instrument, often made of horn, sounding like a trompa.[7]
  5. Horn as a material, used to make handles, combs and other objects.[7]
  6. The right or left side of certain things, such as an altar; a wing of an army or fleet.[7]
  7. (colloquial, usually plural) Sexual or marital infidelity: poner los cuernos.[1][16]
  8. (Mexico, Honduras) A croissant.[17][1]

Word family

  • cornada
  • cornadura
  • cornamenta
  • cornezuelo
  • cornudo
  • cuerna
  • encornado
  • cornal
  • cornear
  • cornijal
  • corneta
  • cuernito
  • córnea
  • córneo
  • unicornio
  • Latin cornū
  • Portuguese corno
  • Catalan corn

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include coger el toro por los cuernos “to take the bull by the horns”, mandar al cuerno “to send packing” and the exclamation ¡un cuerno! “no way!”.[1][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. cuerno
  3. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. cornu
  4. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. cornu
  5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 273
  6. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuerno
  7. ^ a b c d e f g 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. cuerno
  8. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. cuerno
  9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cuerno
  11. ^ 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. 831
  12. ^ 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. cuerno
  13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 685
  14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 686
  15. ^ 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. cuerno
  16. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuerno
  17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cuerno
  18. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. s.v. cuerno
  19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 322

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cuerno.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/cuerno. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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