leñero

Forms

leñero (feminine leñera, masculine plural leñeros, feminine plural leñeras)^[1] The Fuero de Plasencia writes the plural lenneros.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lignārius (“of wood; a dealer in wood”), as the DLE, Wiktionary and the REW give it.^[3][1][4] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of leña without a separate etymology, and Le Men's Leonese dictionary also derives it from that noun.^[5][6][7]

The same Latin word is Portuguese lenheiro, Italian legnaio and Romanian lemnar “carpenter, timber merchant”.^[4][8]

The Latin adjective is formed from lignum (“wood, firewood”) with the suffix -ārius; as a noun it meant a worker or dealer in wood.^[9][1] De Vaan gives two equally possible origins for the noun: from *leǵ- (“to collect”), as “wood gathered for a fire”, or from a root meaning “to lie”, as “stray wood”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural lenneros in the Fuero de Plasencia, dated 1221.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades, in 1734, defined the word as “one who sells firewood” and noted that it also named the place where firewood is stored, more often called leñera.^[11] By 1843 the Academy also gave the person in charge of buying firewood for a house or community.^[12] In the Americas leñeros appear among the tributary workers of Mexico in 1599.^[13]

In Leonese speech leñero names a shed for firewood in front of a house and a pile of firewood.^[7] The sporting sense “rough, playing a hard game”, said especially of footballers, is in the Academy's dictionary of 2001.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1221 – lenneros in the Fuero de Plasencia.^[2]
• 1599 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico: los leñeros de Aticpac.^[13]
• 1734 – Autoridades gives the senses “seller of firewood” and “place where firewood is kept”.^[11]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary has the person who buys firewood for a household.^[12]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary records the sporting sense “rough player”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (sports, colloquial) Of a player, especially a footballer: playing a hard, rough game and committing many fouls; also used as a noun.^[3][15][1]

Noun

1. A seller of firewood (leña).^[3][16]
2. A person in charge of buying the firewood a house or community needs.^[3]
3. A woodshed or place for storing firewood; also leñera.^[3][1]

Related words

• leña
• leño
• leñador
• leñoso
• Portuguese lenheiro

Usage notes

The feminine leñera is used for the same place for storing firewood.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. leñero
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5032
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 631
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. leña
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández
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
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial