granero

Forms

granero m (plural graneros)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin grānārium (“granary”).^[2][3][4][1] Within Spanish it can be read as grano with the suffix -ero.^[1] The same Latin word is Catalan graner, Occitan granièr, French grenier, Italian granaio and Romanian grânar.^[5][6][1]

The Latin noun is formed grānum (“grain”) with the suffix -ārium.^[7][1] De Vaan derives the Latin noun from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂-no- (“ripened; grain”), the source also of Proto-Germanic *kurna- (“grain”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is Alfonso X's General Estoria (c. 1275, in a manuscript of about 1270), which tells how Joseph stored en los graneros de Faraón “in Pharaoh's granaries” the grain the people sold for nothing.^[9] In the same work the granaries of Joseph are the silos dug in dry places in Egypt.^[10] Corominas's first record is Alonso de Palencia, in 1490.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades had the word for the room where grain is gathered and, by extension, for a fertile country or province that supplies its neighbours with produce, quoting granero común de toda ella “the common granary of all of it [Europe]”.^[11] Domínguez in 1846 gave Tierra de Campos as el granero de España.^[12] The DLE now adds “a field in which something can be gathered in quantity”, as in granero de votos “a stronghold of votes”.^[4] Moliner also records the sense “attic”.^[13] In north-western Mexico and Puerto Rico granero is a rural shop that sells seed, grain and poultry.^[14][15] In Salamanca it is the heap of grain left on the threshing floor after winnowing.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria has los graneros de Faraón.^[9][10]
• 1329 – graneros in a Navarrese document.^[17]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1625 – the first record from the Americas.^[18]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the figurative sense “fertile country”.^[11]
• 1794 – a valley is called el granero de México.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy defines the figurative sense as “territory very rich in grain”.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A granary: a place where grain is stored.^[4][1]
2. A region very rich in grain that supplies other regions or countries: Aquella llanura era el granero del reino.^[4][20]
3. A field or area from which something can be got or kept in large amounts, as in granero de votos.^[4]
4. A barn.^[1]
5. (north-western Mexico, Puerto Rico) A rural shop selling seed, grain and poultry.^[14]

Related words

• grano
• a granel
• Latin grānārium
• Catalan graner

Usage notes

The proverb Un grano no hace granero, pero ayuda al compañero says that small contributions add up.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 196
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. grano
4. ^ a b c d e 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. granero
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. grānārium
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. granarium
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
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. granero
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 73
12. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 890
13. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. granero
14. ^ 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. granero
15. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. granero
16. ^ Lamano y Beneite, José de (1915), El dialecto vulgar salmantino, Salamanca: Tipografía Popular, p. 476
17. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. granero
18. ^ 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. granero
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 539
20. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. granero