entraña

Forms

entraña f (plural entrañas)^[1] The Glosas Silenses of the second half of the 10th century spell it entraina, which Corominas reads as the same word as entraña;^[1][2] Old Spanish texts also write entranna and entraynna.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin interānea (“intestines, guts”), the neuter plural of the adjective interāneus (“internal”) used as a noun.^{[3][5][6][1][2]}

The same Latin word gave Portuguese entranha and Catalan entranya, and Old French entraigne in the 12th century.^[3][7][8] Occitan entralha and French entrailles come instead from a dissimilated form, which the DHLF identifies with Late Latin intrālia, of the 8th century, made from the older word by a change of suffix.^[3][7][8] Italian entragna was borrowed from Spanish; it was used from shortly before 1650 until the early 19th century and then fell out of use.^[3]

Latin has the adjective and its neuter plural only from imperial times (Pliny, Columella and the veterinary treatise of Chiron), and they seem to have been colloquial, since Vegetius replaced them with internus when he reworked that treatise.^[3][7] The OLD derives the adjective from inter (“between”).^[2] Corominas instead takes it from a lost adjective *interus, which also gave the comparative interior and the superlative intimus, perhaps on the model of Ancient Greek ἔντερον (énteron).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses, of the second half of the 10th century, already have the word.^[3][5] The earliest continuous text in the CDH is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century manuscript), in the words to Rebecca: .ij. gentes a en to vientre e .ij. pueblos de tus entrannas ystran “two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall come out of your bowels”.^[4] In Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236) the saint keeps his visions hidden dentro en sus entrañas, in his inmost self.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses the word for the organs of the body, for the hidden depths of the earth and for the will or affections, and has the phrase cerrar las entrañas de piedad “to close one's heart to pity”.^[9] Nebrija gave Latin praecordia, viscera and intestina for it, and amar con las entrañas for “to love from the heart”.^[10]

The Academy's dictionary of 1843 lists the figurative senses still in use (the hidden interior of the earth, the centre of a thing, the affections, a person's nature) with the proverb entrañas y arquetas, a los amigos abiertas, about the openness owed to friends, and phrases such as echar las entrañas “to vomit violently” and hacer las entrañas a una criatura “to give a newborn its first milk”.^[11] The singular for the essential core of a matter is recent in the Academy's definitions.^[6][12] Moliner records de mis entrañas as an affectionate addition to the name of a loved one, especially a child.^[13] In some countries the word also names a cut of beef from the diaphragm.^[14]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – entraina in the Glosas Silenses.^[3][5]
• c. 1200 – entrannas in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, known from a 13th-century manuscript.^[4]
• c. 1236 – Berceo uses it for a person's inmost self.^[4]
• 1272–1275 – the General Estoria speaks of the entrannas dela tierra.^[9]
• 1490 – first record of the derivative entrañable.^[5]
• 1545 – first record from the Americas, in Honduras.^[15]
• 1843 – the Academy records the proverb entrañas y arquetas, a los amigos abiertas.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Each of the organs in the main cavities of the body of humans and animals; in the plural, the entrails or bowels: El cazador limpió las entrañas del conejo.^[6][1][13]
2. The most intimate or essential part of a thing or matter, its core: Ahí está la entraña del conflicto.^[6][1][13]
3. (in the plural) The most hidden part of something: en las entrañas de la mina.^[6][13]
4. (in the plural) The centre, what lies in the middle.^[6]
5. (in the plural) Will, affection; the capacity to feel, especially pity: Hay que no tener entrañas para dejarlo así.^[6][13]
6. (in the plural) A person's nature and temper: una mujer de malas entrañas.^[6]
7. A cut of beef taken from the diaphragm.^[14]

Word family

• entrañable
• entrañar
• desentrañar

Related words

• entre
• interior
• íntimo
• interno

Usage notes

The sense of the organs is mostly used in the plural, las entrañas.^[13][1] Set phrases include arrancársele a alguien las entrañas “to be heartbroken” and dar hasta las entrañas “to be extremely generous”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 644
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. entraña
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. entraña
6. ^ 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. entraña
7. ^ a b c Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 393
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. entraña
10. ^ 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. entraña
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 303
12. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. entraña
13. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. entraña
14. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
15. ^ 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. entraña