lana

Forms

lana f (plural lanas)^[1] Old Spanish texts occasionally write llana;^[2] Corominas thinks such a spelling may be merely graphic, or a Leonese or Catalan form.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish lana, inherited from Latin lāna (“wool”).^[3][4][5][1] Corominas notes that it has been in general use at all periods and is common to all the Romance languages.^[3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese lã (Old Portuguese lãa), Galician la, Asturian llana, Catalan llana, Occitan lana, French laine, Italian lana and Romanian lână.^[6][7][1] Asturian and Catalan have the palatal ⟨ll⟩ /ʎ/ at the start of the word, and the cowherds' speech of Asturias has chana and tsana.^[6]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *wlānā- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ulh₁-neh₂- (“wool”), literally “plucked material”.^[8] De Vaan's cognates include Ancient Greek λῆνος (lênos), Old Irish olann, Lithuanian vilna and Old High German wolla.^[8] Scholars disagree on whether the word is related to vellus (“fleece”) and vellō (“to pluck”): Schrijver rejected the connection and Meiser keeps it, according to de Vaan.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest CDH hit is La fazienda de Ultra Mar (about 1200, in a 13th-century copy), which tells of Gideon and el bellocino de la lana “the fleece of wool”.^[9] The Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (about 1215, in a 14th-century copy) speaks of panyo de lana “woollen cloth”.^[9] Corominas's first records are Berceo and the Fuero of Guadalajara of 1219.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Already in Alfonso X's prose the word meant both the fleece of sheep and a woollen fabric or garment.^[10] Covarrubias in 1611 derived it, after Varro, from the plucking of wool before shears were known.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades distinguished the fine wool of merino sheep from coarser kinds, extended the word to the curly hair of other animals, and recorded the jocular sense “money” and the proverb ir por lana y volver trasquilado “to go for wool and come back shorn”.^[12] In the Americas it is recorded from 1547, in the wool trade of Mexico.^[13]

Today lana also means long, unkempt hair, and in colloquial speech money.^[5][1] In Costa Rica it is moss or lichen.^[5] In Central America it is used of an opportunist or a swindler, and in Guatemala of a coarse, foul-mouthed person.^[14] Tagalog and Central Bikol borrowed it as lana.^[1] The falconers' halcón lanero, recorded in 1386, came through French lanier.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – La fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy.^[9]
• 1219 – the Fuero of Guadalajara, Corominas's dated first record.^[3][4]
• 1250–1280 – Alfonso X's Lapidario and General estoria use it for fleece and for woollen clothing.^[10]
• 1386 – lanero for a kind of falcon, in López de Ayala.^[3]
• 1547 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the word from the plucking of wool.^[11]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the sense “money” and the proverb ir por lana y volver trasquilado.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. wool: the hair of sheep and some other animals, spun and woven.^[5][1]
2. Woollen yarn (hilo).^[5]
3. Woollen cloth.^[5]
4. A woollen garment.^[5]
5. (colloquial, derogatory, often in the plural) Long, unkempt hair.^[5]
6. (colloquial) Money (dinero), cash.^[5][1]
7. (Costa Rica) Moss (musgo) or lichen.^[5][1]

Word family

• lanada
• lanar
• lanero
• lanoso
• lanudo
• lanería

Related words

• Latin lāna
• Portuguese lã
• Catalan llana

Usage notes

Ir por lana y volver trasquilado is said of someone who expects to gain and comes away the loser.^[12] Perro de lanas is a poodle-like dog with curly hair, and cardarle a alguien la lana is “to scold someone harshly”.^[5][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. lana
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 571
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lana
5. ^ 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. lana
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3739
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1984
8. ^ 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. lāna
9. ^ 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. lana
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. lana
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1064
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 356
13. ^ 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. lana
14. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. lana
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 428