llantén

Forms

llantén m (plural llantenes)^[1] Old Spanish texts often make the word feminine, la llanten (Libro de los caballos, c. 1275;^[2][3] Nebrija, 1492).^[2][3] Leonese lantel reaches Cantabria, Burgos, Segovia, Ávila, Mexico and Central America;^[4][5] llantel is found in Ávila, plantaina in Aragon, La Rioja and Navarre, and plantaje in Murcia.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin plantāgō (“plantain”), through the oblique stem in ⟨-agin-⟩.^[4][6][7][1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese tanchagem, Galician chantaxe, Asturian llantaina, Aragonese plantaina, Catalan plantatge, French plantain, Italian piantaggine and Romanian pătlagină.^[4][5][8] Mozarabic had a form with ⟨pl-⟩, frequent from the 12th century.^[4] Old Portuguese chantagem became the modern Portuguese form by metathesis.^[5]

This name is formed from Latin planta (“sole of the foot”) + -āgō.^[9][1] Corominas thinks the plant was named after the long leaves of the ribwort plantain, whose five strong veins were likened to the five toes of the foot; he rejects Simonet's explanation from Ancient Greek πέντε (pénte, “five”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Libro de los caballos (c. 1275), a veterinary treatise, prescribes the juice of the plant, with white lead and beaten egg white, for a horse's ailment: tomar el zumo de la llanten.^[2] The falconry treatise translated for Alfonso X as Moamín (1250–1300) has the form lanten, for the plant Plantago major.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

In medieval medicine llantén was a common remedy: syrups and juices of the plant appear in Juan de Aviñón's Sevillana medicina and in the 1431 Tesoro de la medicina.^[2] Nebrija (1492) equates it with Latin plantago and with arnoglossa and lingua agni, “lamb's tongue”.^[3] The plant went to the Americas with the Spanish settlers: a chronicle of 1549 from Santo Domingo notes that physicians call it plantago, and in 1578 it is among the seeds brought from Spain to Venezuela.^[12] The Academy's botanical description of 1899 is still the basis of the DLE's.^[13][7]

Botany distinguishes llantén mayor (Plantago major) from llantén menor (Plantago lanceolata); llantén de agua is the water plantain (Alisma).^[14][7][1]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – the falconry treatise Moamín has the form lanten.^[10][11]
• c. 1275 – the Libro de los caballos prescribes el zumo de la llanten.^[2]
• 1431 – the Tesoro de la medicina gives a syrup of llanten.^[2]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary: plantago and arnoglossa, “la llanten ierva”.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary, the first record in Corominas.^[4][6]
• 1549 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[12]
• 1899 – the Academy describes the plant botanically.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. plantain (Plantago major), a perennial herb with broad oval leaves in a rosette and small greenish flowers on a long dense spike, common in damp places; a decoction of its leaves is used in medicine.^[7][1][14]
2. Any plant of the genus Plantago, especially the ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata), called llantén menor.^[1][14]
3. (Cuba, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, colloquial) A long bout of crying (llanto); in Puerto Rico also the whimpering of many people at once.^[15][16][17]

Related words

• planta
• plantaina
• Latin plantago
• French plantain

Usage notes

The Caribbean llantén “prolonged crying” is recorded only by the dictionaries of Americanisms and of Dominican and Cuban use, which give no etymology.^[15][16][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. llantén
3. ^ a b c d 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. llantén
4. ^ 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. 4, 572
5. ^ a b c d García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5092
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. planta
7. ^ 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. llantén
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. llantén
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. llantén
12. ^ 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. lantén
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 615
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. llantén
15. ^ 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. llantén
16. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. llantén
17. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. llantén