riñón

Forms

riñón m (plural riñones)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish reñón, written ⟨rennon⟩ in the oldest texts, inherited from Vulgar Latin *rēniō (“kidney”), a derivative of Latin rēn, rēnis (“kidney”).^{[2][3][1][4][5]} The DLE gives the Latin simple word alone as the etymon.^[6] This older form still appears in Lope de Vega and in La Pícara Justina.^[2]

Most Romance languages have forms that presuppose the Vulgar Latin word: Catalan ronyó, earlier renyó, Occitan renhon, French rognon and Italian rognone.^[2][7][8] In Portuguese, French and Italian the Latin simple word lives on as Portuguese rim, French rein and Italian rene, beside the derivatives that name more particularly the edible kidneys of animals.^[2][9] Corominas thinks this was probably the first sense everywhere, but finds it hard to say whether it explains the creation of the derivative or whether the Latin dialect synonym nefrones influenced it.^[2] The BDELC adds that Castilian kept the plural of the simple word, renes, all through the Middle Ages, but early tended to make the derivative the general word.^[3]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[10][1] De Vaan finds a connection with Baltic words for the loins and a reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *srēn- (“hip, loins”) conceivable, and also mentions *h₂r-ēn (“kidney”) beside the Celtic words for the kidney.^[10] Wiktionary adds a link with Ancient Greek φρήν (phrḗn, “midriff, mind”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's Lapidario (c. 1250, in a manuscript of the middle of the 13th century) speaks of the stone that forms inside the human body en la uexiga o en los rennones “in the bladder or in the kidneys”, and of a stone that breaks the stone formed in the bladder or the kidney.^[11][5] Corominas's first record is the Glosario de Toledo, of about 1400.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The plural renes, used as a feminine, lasted beside riñón for a long time: the Fuero Juzgo sets a payment for a man wounded en las renes, and Nebrija, Juan de Pineda, Sigüenza and Correas still use it.^[2] Nebrija (c. 1495) has ren o riñón de animal.^[2][12] Don Quixote speaks of a man long sick de los riñones.^[2]

The sense “the heart or centre of a place or time” is found in G. A. de Herrera's en el riñón del invierno, and in Chile in 1545 and 1551 (el riñón de la tierra).^[2][13] The Diccionario de Autoridades records it, together with the phrase tener cubierto el riñón “to be well off”, from a well-fed animal whose kidney is covered in fat.^[14] The Academy added the mining sense of a rounded lump of mineral in 1899.^[15] In Mexico, Chile and Uruguay a kidney-shaped hospital basin is a riñón.^[6][16] In the Canary Islands más feo que un riñón is said of a very ugly person.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has rennones and rennon.^[11][5]
• 1254–1260 – the Judizios de las estrellas have rennones, the first record without a later copy.^[11]
• c. 1275 – the General Estoria has reñones.^[11]
• c. 1400 – the Glosario de Toledo, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1490 – first record of the derivative riñonada.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija has ren o riñón de animal.^[2]
• 1545 – first record in the Americas, in Chile, in el riñón del invierno.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the mining sense.^[15]
• 1919 – first Canarian record of riñón for an ugly person.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kidney: each of the paired organs that filter the blood and remove waste as urine.^[6][1]
2. The kidney of an animal as food.^[18]
3. The heart or centre of a place, area or matter: en el riñón del barrio.^[6][4]
4. (mining) A rounded lump of mineral enclosed in another of a different kind; kidney ore.^[6][1]
5. (architecture) The part of an arch or vault nearest its springing.^[4][19]
6. (Mexico, Chile, Uruguay) A kidney-shaped basin used in hospitals.^[6][16]
7. (in the plural) The lower back, the lumbar region: Me duelen los riñones.^[6]

Word family

• riñonada
• arriñonado

Related words

• derrengar
• rene
• renal
• suprarrenal
• adrenalina
• Latin ren
• French rognon

Usage notes

Costar un riñón means “to cost an arm and a leg”, and a riñón artificial is a dialysis machine.^[6][1] Tener el riñón bien cubierto “to be rich” is colloquial.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 27
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. riñón
4. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. riñón
5. ^ 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. riñón
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. riñón
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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. 7, 456
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2928
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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, p. s.v. riñón
12. ^ 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. riñón
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, p. s.v. riñón
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 876
16. ^ 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. riñón
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. riñón
18. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. riñón