puerro

Forms

puerro m (plural puerros)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin porrum (“leek”).^[2][3][4][1] The stressed short /o/ of the Latin word became the diphthong /we/, as Corominas expects, and he takes the variant porro, recorded about 1850 and used mainly in ajo porro, as a newcomer, probably from porro.^[2][3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese porro, Italian porro, Romanian por, Asturian puerru and Aragonese porro.^[5][1][6] French has poireau, from porreau, a diminutive of por, altered under the influence of poire.^[7]

The Latin word is related to Ancient Greek πράσον (práson, “leek”), both from *pr̥so-; de Vaan notes that the words have mostly been regarded as a farming loan from a Mediterranean language, and that a link with Proto-Indo-European *perso- (“ear of grain”) is unclear in meaning.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy) has the oldest record: a garden “well stocked with good leeks”, which thieves came to steal.^[9][10] Corominas also cites the Libro de los caballos of the 13th century, and the CDH has its tres puerros con sus fojas “three leeks with their leaves” (c. 1275) as the first record with no later copy.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the leek appears in medical and veterinary texts: the juice of leeks in the Moamín (1250) and the Lapidario of Alfonso X.^[9][11] The Libro de Alexandre uses un mal puerro asado “a bad roasted leek” for something worthless.^[9] Alfonso de Palencia (1490) wrote that it was a useful vegetable for country people and good for the voice.^[2] Autoridades (1737) described it as a kind of onion without a head, milder in taste, and quoted Quevedo's comemos un puerro, y representamos un capón.^[12] From 1843 the Academy added the wild leek, puerro silvestre.^[13] The Academy first gave the variant porro in 1884.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1236 – Berceo, Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos, a garden of buenos puerros.^[9]
• 1250 – the juice of leeks in the Moamín.^[9]
• c. 1275 – the Libro de los caballos, first record without a later copy.^[9][2]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia describes the plant.^[2]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin porrum sectile.^[14]
• 1571 – first record in the Americas, in a Mexican vocabulary.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the derivative porrino, the bed where leeks are sown for transplanting.^[16]
• 1843 – the Academy adds puerro silvestre.^[13]
• 1884 – the variant porro enters the Academy's dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The leek, Allium porrum, a herbaceous plant with long flat leaves and a long white edible bulb: Pica dos puerros para la crema de verduras.^[4][17][1]

Word family

• porrino
• porreta
• porra

Related words

• porro
• porráceo
• Latin porrum

Usage notes

Puerro silvestre “wild leek” is a related species with half-cylindrical leaves and reddish flowers.^[4][17] Corominas thinks porra “club” may be a derivative, from the shape of a long stalk with a thick end, though the vowel of the Ibero-Romance forms is a difficulty.^[2]

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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 677
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. puerro
4. ^ a b c 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. puerro
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. porrum
6. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. puerru
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. poireau
8. ^ 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 e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. puerro
10. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. puerro
11. ^ 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. puerro
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 424
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 596
14. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 402
15. ^ 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. puerro
16. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1235
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. puerro