roncar

Forms

roncar (first-person singular present ronco, first-person singular preterite ronqué, past participle roncado)^[1] Western Asturian and Galician have roucar, with the vowel of rouco “hoarse”.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin rhonchō (“to snore”), a Late Latin verb formed from rhonchus (“snoring”).^[3][4][5][1] Sidonius Apollinaris uses the verb, and Martial already has the noun.^[3][6] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek ῥόγχος (rhónkhos, “snoring”), a word poorly recorded in Greek, whose age Corominas thinks is shown by the late ῥογχασμός (rhonkhasmós) and above all by the classical verb ῥέγκω (rhénkō, “to snore”), of which it is a regular derivative with the vowel /o/.^[3][7] He rejects Wartburg's view that the Latin noun was a native imitative word.^[3]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese roncar, Catalan roncar, Occitan roncar, Old French ronchier and Old Italian roncare.^[3][8] The French dialect verb roncher “to grumble”, source of ronchonner, survives from the Old French verb.^[9]

The Greek verb is held to be ultimately imitative;^[1][9] Wiktionary mentions a possible Proto-Indo-European *sre(n)gʰ- (“to snore”), and notes that Beekes also considers a Pre-Greek origin.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest clear hits are of about 1250, in a book on hunting animals and in Alfonso X's Lapidario (in a copy of the mid-13th century).^[10] The Lapidario says that whoever carries a certain stone in his sleep will see frightening things, so that he will cry out, & algunos ya que roncan muy derrezio “and some even snore very loudly”.^[11][10] The Libro de los animales que cazan (1250, in a copy of the late 13th century) uses it of sick hawks.^[10] Corominas, who did not have these texts, dated the word to two glossaries of about 1400, where it translates Latin stertere.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Corominas calls roncar a word in general use in every period.^[3] The Diccionario de Autoridades added three extended senses: to make a dull, hoarse noise, said of the sea and of wind instruments; to make threats or mock (a colloquial use); and, of a fallow deer, to call the female in the rut.^[12] All three are still in the DLE, the sea and the wind now named as examples of the dull roar.^[5]

In the Americas roncar has come to mean “to show authority, to boss” in Panama, Puerto Rico, Peru, Chile and Paraguay, and in Paraguay also “to order someone about”; in Ecuador it is said of a spinning top that hums, and in Honduras of water boiling in a pot.^[13] The Tesoro of Puerto Rico also records “to speak defiantly, to provoke”, and the Dominican dictionary “to be very slow to react”.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Alfonso X's Lapidario and the Libro de los animales que cazan use roncan “they snore”.^[10][11]
• 1279 – the Libro de las formas y de las ymágines has a remedy pora non roncar mientre durmiere “so as not to snore while sleeping”.^[10]
• c. 1400 – the glossaries of Toledo and the Escorial gloss Latin stertere, the date Corominas gives.^[3][4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives roncar as sterto and records roncador, ronquido and enronquecerse.^[16][4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the word as imitative, or from Latin rhoncus and the Greek verb.^[17]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the senses of the sea's roar, of threats and of the deer's call.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin ronchare and Greek.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To snore: to breathe noisily while asleep: Mi hermano ronca tanto que no me deja dormir.^[5][1]
2. (intransitive) Of a fallow deer: to call the female in the rut.^[5][19]
3. (intransitive) Of the sea, the wind and the like: to make a dull, deep roar.^[5]
4. (intransitive, colloquial) To utter threats or taunts; to bluster.^[5][19]
5. (Panama, Puerto Rico, Peru, Chile, Paraguay) To show authority or superiority; to boss.^[13]

Word family

• roncador
• ronquido
• roncón
• ronquera
• enronquecer

Related words

• ronco
• Latin rhonchus
• Portuguese roncar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. rhonchare
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 49
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. roncar
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. roncar
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7292
9. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. roncar
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. roncar
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 638
13. ^ 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. roncar
14. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. roncar
15. ^ 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. roncar
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 411
17. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1270
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 941
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. roncar