gallinero

Forms

gallinero m (plural gallineros)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gallīnārium (“henhouse”) and, for the person who deals in hens, inherited from Latin gallīnārius (“poultry keeper”).^[1][2][3] The REW marks the neuter as unattested, but the OLD records it in Columella and Pliny.^[4][5] Both are formed from gallīna (“hen”) with the suffixes -ārium (“place for”) and -ārius.^[1][6] The same Latin word gave Portuguese galinheiro, Italian gallinaio and Catalan galliner.^[4][7][8] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of gallina without an etymon of its own, and Wikcionario and Le Men's Leonese dictionary analyse it as a Spanish formation with the suffix -ero.^[9][10][11]

The Latin word for hen is derived from gallus (“farmyard cock”).^[6] De Vaan prefers to see the cock as “the caller”, from a root also found in Welsh and Slavic words for calling and voice, but notes that the root, which is only attested in a few branches, may be imitative.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel lists a gallinero in a document from León of 1107, the place name or surname Gallinero in a document of the Las Huelgas convent of Burgos in 1259, and the feminine plural gallineras in a Madrid document of 1275.^[12] The first record in the Old Spanish Textual Archive is in Díaz de Montalvo's Ordenanzas reales, printed in 1484.^[13] Nebrija defined the word as the person who looks after hens, Latin gallinarius, and Corominas dates it from him.^[14][9]

Semantic evolution

In 1734 the Diccionario de Autoridades gave three senses: a person who buys hens to sell them again, the covered place where hens are kept and roost, and the basket in which hens are carried to market; it also recorded the phrase alborotar el gallinero.^[15][16] Terreros used it for the perch on which hens roost.^[17] In 1817 the Academy added a falconry adjective for birds of prey fed on hens and a figurative sense, the place in the theatre where many women sit together, the cazuela.^[18] From 1869 it recorded parece un gallinero, said of any place full of shouting where nobody can understand anyone else.^[19]

The theatre sense moved to the highest and cheapest seats of a theatre or cinema; in 1892 Batres Jáuregui noted that in Guatemala the top of the theatre was called gallinero.^[3][20] The first record in the Americas is from Santa Marta in 1528, and in Mexico City in 1571 the word was glossed with Nahuatl totolcalli.^[21] In Cuba and Puerto Rico it is also the open-air yard where hens are kept with a breeding cock.^[22][23] In Andalusia it can mean a place where partridges gather, and in Leonese a small brownish bird that climbs tree trunks.^[24][11]

Timeline

• 1107 – DEMel lists gallinero in a León document, whose context (a Latin charter or a name) is not given.^[12]
• 1275 – the feminine plural gallineras in a Madrid document.^[12]
• 1484 – in Díaz de Montalvo's Ordenanzas reales.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija defines the person who looks after hens.^[14]
• 1528 – first record in the Americas, in Santa Marta.^[21]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the dealer, the henhouse and the basket.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the falconry adjective and the theatre sense.^[18]
• 1869 – the Academy records parece un gallinero for a noisy place.^[19]
• 1892 – the upper gallery of the theatre is called gallinero in Guatemala.^[20]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (hunting) Of a bird of prey: fed on hens.^[3][18]

Noun

1. (masculine and feminine) A person who deals in poultry.^[3][1]
2. A henhouse or chicken coop: a fenced place or shed where hens and other farmyard birds are kept: Cada tarde cerraba el gallinero antes de que llegara el zorro.^[3][25]
3. The hens raised on a farm or in a house.^[3]
4. A basket in which hens are carried to market.^[3][15]
5. The highest gallery of a theatre or cinema, with the cheapest seats.^[3][26]
6. (colloquial) A gathering where the shouting and confused arguing stop anyone from understanding anyone else.^[3][25]
7. (Cuba, Puerto Rico, rural) An open-air yard where hens are kept with a breeding cock.^[22][23]

Related words

• gallina
• gallo
• Latin gallīnārium
• Portuguese galinheiro

Usage notes

Alborotar el gallinero means to stir up a group of people with words or actions.^[3][15] Of a weak child it is said colloquially that it will no llegar al gallinero, not grow up fully.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies)
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. gallinero
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. galliner
9. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 51
10. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b 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. gallinero
12. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
13. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
14. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 356
15. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 13
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. gallinero
17. ^ 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. 4, 124
18. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
20. ^ a b Batres Jáuregui, Antonio (1892), Vicios del lenguaje y provincialismos de Guatemala, Guatemala: Encuadernación y Tipografía Nacional, p. 299
21. ^ 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
22. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
23. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. gallinero
24. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 291
25. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
26. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial