caro

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈka.roː], [ˈkaː.roː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaː.ro], [ˈkaː.ro]^[1]

Forms

carō f (genitive carnis); third declension^[1] Livius Andronicus has a nominative carnis, and Plautus an ablative carnī.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kerō(n) (“piece of meat”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *k(e)rH-n- (“piece”), first a portion of meat.^[2][5] Cognate with Umbrian karu (“part”) and Oscan carneis (“of a part”).^[2][5][6] De Vaan links it further with verbs for “to separate”, Old Irish scaraid (“separates”) and Lithuanian skìrti (“to separate”), and Wiktionary with Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “to cut off”) and English shear, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus speaks of meat and wine served at a meal.^[3][2] Köbler dates Livius Andronicus 280/260–before 200 BC.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was the flesh of animals and of the human body, and meat as food, as in Caesar's Germans who live on milk, cheese and meat.^[3][8] It was also the pulp of fruit, and Pliny uses it of a flaw in emeralds.^[3][1] Figuratively it meant the richness of a style.^[1] Döderlein contrasts it with pulpa, tasty flesh, and viscera.^[9]

In Christian Latin it was the flesh as opposed to the spirit: the human body, man's physical side, carnal lusts and mankind.^[10] Proto-Romance */ˈkarn-e/ “flesh” is continued in every Romance language.^[11] It survives as Italian carne, French chair, Portuguese carne and Romanian carne.^[1]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it of meat.^[3][7]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of flesh.^[3][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar says the Germans live on milk, cheese and meat.^[8][7]
• 1540s – English carnival is recorded, from Italian carnevale, from carō and levāre.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. Flesh (of animals or of the body).^[3][4]
2. Meat, as food.^[3][1]
3. The pulp of fruit; sapwood.^[3][1]
4. Richness (of discourse).^[1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The flesh, the human body; carnal desires; mankind.^[10]

Word family

• carnālis
• carnārium
• carnārius
• carnātiō
• carnātus
• carneus
• carnicula
• carnifex
• carniger
• carnivorus
• carnōsus

Related words

• carnālitās
• carnāliter
• carnificīna
• carnificius
• carnificō
• corium
• curtus
• English carnival
• English carnal

Usage notes

Isidore derived it from creāre “to create”.^[13] A different verb cārō, cārere meant “to card (wool)”, in Plautus and Varro.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).