torno

Forms

torno m (plural tornos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tornus (“turner's lathe”), which is from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “compasses; lathe”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Corominas derives the Greek word from τείρω (teírō, “to bore”), and Wiktionary from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, bore, twist”).^[2][3][1] In Greek it named a carving knife, a pair of compasses, a lathe and a circle.^[6][7]

The word is found in all the Romance languages of the West, among them Portuguese torno, Catalan torn and French tour.^[2][8][9] In all of them it has a close /o/, although the Latin vowel was probably short.^[2] Corominas takes this as the closed quality of the Greek vowel, kept because the Greek word entered Latin fairly late.^[2]

From the noun, Latin formed tornō (“to turn on a lathe”), which became the Romance verb for “to turn” and Spanish tornar.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH and the BDELC date the word from Gonzalo de Berceo (1220–1250).^[2][3] In the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos it means “return, turn”: que torne meiorada, al torno deste embargo sea desembargada “that she may come back healed, and on her return be freed of this affliction”.^[11][12] The sense “return” is also in the Estoria de España: de torno et de venida “going back and coming”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

By the late 15th century the word named turning devices: Nebrija has the ballesta de torno, a crossbow drawn with a winch, and a screw press.^[13] In 1513 two barbers' grinding wheels (tornos de muela) are listed in Puerto Rico.^[14] Covarrubias in 1611 described the spinning wheel for wool or silk and the revolving box set in a window through which nuns received things.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades called it a basic machine, the wheel and axle, and kept the senses “turning, circular motion” and the convent hatch.^[16] In 1817 the Academy added any wheeled machine for twisting silk or spinning, and a legal sense in the farming of rents.^[17] Salvá in 1846 added the bend of a river, the turnstile at an entrance and, as a new word, the brake that a stagecoach driver works from his seat.^[18]

The modern dictionaries add the machine tool for turning and the dentist's drill.^[4][19] Regional senses include a wooden peg in the plough of Asturias, a peg or hook in Leonese, the spigot or plug of a wine cask in the Canaries, and in Peru the ring where horses are broken in.^{[2][20][21][22][23]}

The related French tour “turn, trip” passed into English as tour, and its derivatives tourism and tourist gave Spanish turismo and turista.^[3]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses torno for “return”.^[3][2][11]
• c. 1270 – the Estoria de España has de torno et de venida.^[12]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary has ballesta de torno and torno de husillo.^[13]
• 1513 – first record from the Americas, barbers' grinding wheels in Puerto Rico.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the spinning wheel and the convent hatch.^[15]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades calls it the basic machine of mechanics.^[16]
• 1846 – Salvá records the bend of a river, the turnstile and the coach brake.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin tornus and Greek.^[24]

Meanings

Noun

1. A winch or windlass: a cylinder turned on its axis by levers, cranks or wheels, which winds up a rope to lift or pull a load.^[4][1]
2. A revolving hatch of vertical panels set in a wall to pass things through without being seen, as in convents of enclosed nuns.^[4][25]
3. A machine with a wheel or crank that makes something turn, as for spinning or twisting silk; the potter's wheel.^[4][19]
4. A lathe: a machine tool that spins a piece while a cutter shapes it to a round section.^[4][1]
5. A dentist's drill.^[4]
6. A turnstile (torniquete).^[4]
7. The brake of some carriages, worked by a handle.^[4]
8. A turn, circular movement or detour.^[4]
9. A bend in a river, where the current usually runs strong.^[4]
10. (law) The passing of a rent-farming contract to the next best bidder when the winner fails to give security in time.^[4]

Word family

• tornero
• tornillo
• torniscón
• tornear
• torneo

Related words

• tornar
• contorno
• turno
• Latin tornus
• Catalan torn

Usage notes

The phrase en torno means “around”, and both en torno a and en torno de are used.^[1][26] Torno is also the first person singular present of tornar.^[1]

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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 558
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. torno
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. torno
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 783
10. ^ 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. 8, 605
11. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 755
12. ^ a b c Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando
13. ^ a b 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
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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. 1337
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 304
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 851
18. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1060
19. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
20. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. torno
21. ^ 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
22. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org
23. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1036
25. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
26. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 508