carnalis

Forms

carnālis (neuter carnāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin carō² (“flesh”) + -ālis.^[1][2][3] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *kerō(n) (“piece of meat”) and Proto-Indo-European *k(e)rH-n- (“piece”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A plural carnales in a fragment of Varro's Menippean Satires is of unknown meaning;^[2][3] Georges points to a reading casnar there.^[5] The word is secure from Tertullian (c. 160–220 AD) on,^[6][7] who speaks of carnal sins, as opposed to spiritual ones.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Church Latin it meant “of the flesh, bodily”, in contrast to spiritalis:^[6][5] Minucius Felix speaks of carnal eyes, Lactantius sets carnalia “carnal things” against spiritalia,^[6] and the Vulgate calls the Corinthians carnal.^[8] Caelius Aurelianus uses it in the literal sense “made of flesh”.^[8]

Medieval Latin added the senses “earthly, temporal” and “lustful”.^[9] It could describe the days when eating meat was allowed, and the neuter named a larder.^[10][11] A carnalis frater was a full brother.^[12] Thomas Aquinas uses it throughout as the opposite of spiritualis.^[13] Italian carnale comes from it,^[8] and English took over carnal around 1400, from French and directly from Latin.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian speaks of carnal sins.^[6][7]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius opposes carnal to spiritual things.^[6][7]
• 1268 – An English fine distinguishes meat days from fish days.^[10]
• c. 1400 – Borrowed into English as carnal.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of flesh.^[8][9]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Of the flesh, bodily, carnal, as opposed to spiritual.^[6][15][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Earthly, temporal.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) Lustful, sensual.^[9][15]
5. (Medieval Latin) On which meat may be eaten.^[10][11]
6. (Medieval Latin) Full, of the same parents (of a brother).^[12]

Noun

1. (plural carnālia) Carnal things, as opposed to spiritual.^[6][5]
2. (Medieval Latin, neuter) A larder.^[10]

Word family

• carnālitās

Related words

• English carnal

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
13. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson