pierna

Forms

pierna f (plural piernas)^[1]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin perna (“leg with the thigh; ham”).^[2][3][4][1] In Latin the word named the whole hind limb, properly of animals, and tended to be specialised for the pig, so that in vulgar authors such as Petronius it already means “ham”; applied to a person it was a picturesque expression.^[2] Tovar, cited by Corominas, held that the archaic poet Ennius used it for “leg”, so that Hispano-Romance would have kept a use that Latin had given up by the 2nd century AD.^[2]

In Romance it is essentially a Castilian and Portuguese word: Portuguese perna and Galician perna mean “leg”.^[2][5][1] Elsewhere it survives mostly for animals, as in Old Abruzzese, Neapolitan and Sicilian perna and the southern French and Béarnese forms; Catalan perna is recorded from 974 on in documents of the Catalan area, mostly for a ham of pork, and Catalan, like the other western Romance languages, chose the type camba for the human leg.^[2][6][7] Corominas takes perno “bolt” from Catalan pern, a derivative of the same word that came in as a nautical term.^[2]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *persnā and Proto-Indo-European *tpḗrsneh₂ (“heel”), the source of Ancient Greek πτέρνη (ptérnē), Sanskrit पार्ष्णि (pā́rṣṇi) and Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌽𐌰 (fairzna), all meaning “heel”.^[8][1] De Vaan explains the Latin meaning as a shift from “heel” to “haunch, upper leg”, and reports Lubotsky's view that the word was a compound of the words for “foot” and “to kick”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), in a heading on injuries, Del que quebrantare pierna “of him who breaks a leg”.^[9] Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236), Corominas's first record, tells of a sick man whose pain de las piernas “of the legs” was eased.^[9][2][3] From the beginning Castilian used the word with its modern sense, almost always of people, and for the lower half of the limb only.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already uses it for the leg of people and animals, for the thigh of quadrupeds, and for each of the two arms of a pair of compasses (1254–1260).^[10] Nebrija's pierna de animal: crus was, in Corominas's view, a Latinism, and Autoridades and the Academy carried the animal sense and the thigh into their definitions out of the same Latinising habit.^[2][11] Autoridades also gives, by likeness, a piece that with others makes up a whole, as pierna de sábana or the lobes of a walnut.^[12] In 1817 the Academy added the stroke of letters such as M and N, the uprights of a printing press and a long narrow jug.^[13]

Cervantes has a pierna tendida “at ease, without a care” in the Quijote, and the phrase lives on as dormir a pierna suelta.^[14][15] From the Golden Age phrases echar piernas and hacer piernas “to show off as a fine gallant”, Argentine colloquial speech made pierna a word for a lively, good-humoured person.^[2] Garzón recorded it in 1910 for each of the players in a game of cards and for someone always in good humour and ready to join in.^[16] The DLE now gives Argentine and Uruguayan senses of three of a kind in poker, a person ready to keep others company and a sharp, clever person.^[4][17]

In New Mexico a pierna was also a width of cloth by which the manta was measured, a use recorded in Mexico as early as 1550.^[18][19]

Timeline

• 1218–1250 – Fuero de Zorita de los Canes: Del que quebrantare pierna.^[9]
• c. 1236 – Berceo, Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos.^[9][2]
• 1254–1260 – Alfonso X's prose uses pierna for the arm of a pair of compasses.^[10]
• 1543 – first record in the Americas, of a horse branded on the right leg, in Puebla.^[19]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “a leg”.^[20]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as the part between knee and foot, and the thigh of an animal at the butcher's.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the strokes of letters and the uprights of the printing press.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology “Del lat. perna”.^[21]
• 1910 – Garzón records the Argentine senses “card player” and ser una pierna.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. leg: the lower limb of a person.^[4][1]
2. The part of the leg between the knee and the foot; the shank.^[4][15]
3. The thigh of four-legged animals and birds, especially as meat: Compré una pierna de cerdo para el domingo.^[4][15]
4. Each of the two pointed arms of a pair of compasses.^[4][10]
5. A piece that with others makes up a whole, such as a width of a sheet.^[4]
6. An unevenness or lack of straightness in the edges or the cut of a fabric.^[4][15]
7. A long, narrow jug that widens slightly towards the mouth and narrows again at the top.^[4]
8. (calligraphy) The downstroke of some letters, such as M and N.^[4]
9. (printing, historical) Each of the two uprights at the sides of the old printing press.^[4]
10. (in the plural) The strength to keep up a hard physical effort with the legs: En la última subida ya no le quedaban piernas.^[4]
11. (Argentina, Uruguay) three of a kind in poker.^[4][17]
12. (Argentina, Uruguay, colloquial) A person always ready to keep others company or to help.^[4][17]
13. (Argentina) Each of the players who meet for a game, especially of cards; a sharp, clever person.^[4][16]

Word family

• pernada
• pernear
• pernera
• pernil
• despernar
• perniquebrado

Related words

• perno
• Latin perna

Usage notes

Dormir a pierna suelta (or a pierna tendida) means to sleep soundly, free of worries.^[15][14] In Mexico and several other countries of the Americas pierna is the drumstick of a chicken, the part between the thigh and the foot.^[17]

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 i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 538
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pierna
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. pierna
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6418
7. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 6, 452
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
10. ^ a b c 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. pierna
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 267
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 674
14. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés
15. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
16. ^ a b c Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres
17. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
18. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, p. 153
19. ^ 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
20. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 190
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 830