marinero

Forms

marinero (feminine marinera, masculine plural marineros, feminine plural marineras)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish marino + -ero.^[2] Wiktionary takes the base to be the noun marina instead, and the Academy's dictionary of 1884 gave the same etymology.^[1][3] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of mar.^[4][5] García de Diego and Gómez de Silva take it to be from Medieval Latin marinarius (“seaman”), and Lanchetas, in his study of Berceo's language, already supposed a Vulgar Latin source of this shape, found in the Usatges of Barcelona.^[6][7][8] Niermeyer records the medieval Latin word as “sailor; passenger”.^[9]

The same formation is Catalan mariner, Galician marineiro and Portuguese marinheiro; the Portuguese has the ⟨nh⟩ of marinha.^[6] Wiktionary compares Italian marinaio.^[1] Its base, the adjective meaning “of the sea”, is from Latin marīnus (“of the sea”), from mare (“sea”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in Berceo, and it is also in the Partidas.^[4] Lanchetas quotes it from the Milagros de Nuestra Señora (stanza 32), where the Virgin is the protector of sailors in their troubles.^[8] The DEMel cites the Libro de Alexandre (c. 1230–1250).^[10] In Alfonso X's Picatrix (1256) many marineros and shepherds know the course of the stars.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 defines the marinero as one who goes to sea in a ship.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades calls it the general name of everyone who helps with the work on board, and also, by emphasis, a man very skilled at sea.^[13] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 added the naval rank between ship's boy and gunner, the adjective of a ship ready to sail, and the name of the argonaut, a sea mollusc with a thin white shell.^[14] Later editions describe a seaworthy ship, one that sails easily and safely.^[3][2]

Marino as a noun, roughly a synonym of marinero, is late in Spanish, as in Italian, and probably a gallicism: Autoridades lacks it, and Palacio Valdés uses it much less than marinero.^[4] In Cuba and the Dominican Republic marinero is a euphemism for a homosexual man.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo, the first record in Corominas.^[4][5]
• c. 1230–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre, cited by the DEMel.^[10]
• 1256 – Alfonso X's Picatrix.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin nauta and nauita.^[17]
• 1501 – the collective marinería.^[5]
• 1522 – first record in the Americas, in Panama.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias: one who goes to sea in a ship.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the naval rank, the ship adjective and the mollusc.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy derives the word from marina.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the navy or to sailors: Era un pueblo de tradición marinera.^[2][19]
2. Of a ship: seaworthy, built to sail easily and safely in all conditions.^[2]
3. Like something of the navy or of sailors, as a sailor collar.^[2][20]

Noun

1. A sailor, a person who serves on board a vessel.^[2][1]
2. In the navy, a sailor of the lowest rank.^[2]
3. A person skilled in seamanship.^[2]
4. The argonaut, a sea mollusc.^[2]
5. (Cuba, Dominican Republic) A homosexual man.^[15]

Word family

• marinería

Related words

• mar
• marina
• Portuguese marinheiro

Usage notes

A la marinera means in the manner of sailors, and in cooking a way of preparing fish and shellfish: mejillones a la marinera.^[2][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. marinero
3. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 680
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 837
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mar
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4163
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 445
8. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 472
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. marinarius
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. marinero
11. ^ 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. marinero
12. ^ 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. 1114
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 500
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 556
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. marinero
16. ^ Suárez, Constantino (1921), Vocabulario cubano, La Habana: Librería Cervantes / Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. 352
17. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 377
18. ^ 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. marinero
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. marinero
20. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. marinero