gruñir

Forms

gruñir (first-person singular present gruño, first-person singular preterite gruñí, past participle gruñido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin grunnīre (“to grunt”).^[2][3][4][1] Latin also had grundīre, which Corominas takes as the genuine Latin form, the form with ⟨nn⟩ being an Osco-Umbrian variant.^[2] De Vaan likewise calls the ⟨nn⟩ form the more recent variant.^[5]

The form with ⟨nn⟩ lives on in Catalan grunyir, Occitan gronir, Portuguese grunhir, Galician gruñir and Italian grugnire; the form with ⟨nd⟩ survives only in Occitan and French (Old French grondir, now French gronder); and French grogner and the old Italian grugnare point to a form *grunniare.^[2][1] Asturian has gurniar.^[6]

The verb is an onomatopoeia, built like other Latin verbs of sound such as hinnīre (“to neigh”).^[5][7] De Vaan compares Ancient Greek γρύζω (grúzō, “to grunt”) and Old English grunnian, and leaves open whether they are related or separate imitations.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250, in an early 15th-century copy) tells how Alexander had pigs brought in, and the elephants fled when they heard them groñir, “grunt”.^[8][9] Corominas's first record is the Escorial glossary of about 1400.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alonso de Palencia (1490) and Nebrija used the verb for the grunting of pigs.^[2][10] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1734) added the creaking of a door or a cart and, figuratively, grumbling under one's breath, with the phrase mamar y gruñir for an ungrateful person who is never satisfied.^[11] Echegaray's dictionary also applies it to the threatening growl of dogs and other animals.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1240–1250 – groñir in the Libro de Alexandre, in an early 15th-century copy.^[8]
• c. 1400 – the Escorial glossary.^[2][3]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia records gruñido and gruñen los puercos.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: gruñir el puerco.^[10][2]
• 1551 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[14]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the senses “creak” and “grumble”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To grunt, as a pig does; to growl, as a dog does.^[4][1]
2. (intransitive) To grumble: to show displeasure by muttering.^[4][13]
3. (intransitive) Of a thing, to creak: Las bisagras gruñían al abrir la verja.^[4]
4. (intransitive) Of the stomach, to rumble: Le gruñían las tripas.^[1][13]

Word family

• gruñido
• gruñidor
• gruñimiento
• gruñón

Related words

• Latin grunniō
• Catalan grunyir
• Portuguese grunhir

Usage notes

Mamar y gruñir is said of someone who complains even after receiving a favour.^[11][15]

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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 228
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gruñir
4. ^ a b c d 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. gruñir
5. ^ 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, p. s.v. grundiō
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 3149
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. grundiō
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. gruñir
9. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. gruñir
10. ^ a b 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. gruñir
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 84
12. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 586
13. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gruñir
14. ^ 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. gruñir
15. ^ 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. 2, 242