carnal

Forms

carnal m or f (plural carnais)^[1] Houaiss records the medieval plural carnaaes in the 14th century and the spelling carnall in the 15th.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carnālis (“of the flesh”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carnal in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Latin adjective is formed from carō (“flesh”) with the suffix -ālis.^[4][1] It belongs to the language of the Church Fathers, who set it against spīritālis (“spiritual”).^[5]

The same Latin word is Galician carnal, Spanish carnal, Catalan carnal, Occitan carnal, French charnel and Italian carnale.^[6][1] The Vegliote karnual came to mean “wether”, and Italian also used the word for “affectionate”; the REW traces this to the phrase “brother of the flesh”, that is, a full brother.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 13th century the word already describes kinship by blood: a mother loved a child more than anything else como seu fillo carnal “as her own son of the flesh”.^[7] Another cantiga uses it for “bodily, of flesh and blood”, of the Virgin's image, come se fosse carnal “as if it were alive in the flesh”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Medieval Latin already used the word for “bodily”, “earthly” and “lustful”, and for a full brother by blood.^[8][9] The Portuguese word has the same range: a document of 1379 speaks of a marriage consummated per copula carnall, and Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 uses it as a noun for a lecher, glossed with Latin venereus.^[10][11]

As a noun it also named the part of the year when the Church allowed meat, as opposed to Lent: Pereira (1697) has carnal or carnairo in this sense, and Morais (1789) sets it against quaresma.^[12][13] The DLP marks this sense as no longer in use.^[14] Later dictionaries add the inner side of a hide, the side that touched the flesh, and Figueiredo (1899) a white grape of the Douro.^[15][16] In Rio Grande do Sul the inner side of the hide is still called carnal.^[17]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria have fillo carnal “son of one's own flesh”.^[7]
• 1379 – a document has copula carnall “carnal union”.^[10]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo uses the word.^[18]
• 15th century – the spelling carnall.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso uses carnal as a noun for a lecher.^[11]
• 1697 – Pereira records the noun for the time when meat may be eaten.^[12]
• 1789 – Morais lists the senses “of flesh”, “sensual, lascivious” and the noun opposed to Lent, with cópula carnal.^[13]
• 1899 – Figueiredo adds the white grape of the Douro.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to flesh (carne), the muscle tissue of people and animals.^[2][15]
2. Of the body as opposed to the spirit; earthly, worldly: os bens carnais e os espirituais.^[2][1][14]
3. Belonging to the sexual instinct; sensual, lustful: amor carnal.^[2][19][1]
4. Of close kinship by blood, especially of brothers, sisters and cousins: irmão carnal, primo carnal.^[2][19][15]

Noun

1. (masculine, dated) The time of year when the Church allowed meat to be eaten, especially Easter, as opposed to Lent (quaresma).^[2][14][20]
2. (masculine) The inner side of a hide (couro), next to the animal's flesh.^[14][21][17]
3. (feminine, viticulture) A white grape variety of the Douro.^[2][16]

Word family

• carnalmente

Related words

• carnalidade
• carne
• Galician carnal

Usage notes

In Trás-os-Montes the masculine carnal is also a strap of leather used to yoke oxen.^[22]

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 f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. carnal
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. carnal
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. carnālis
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. carnālis
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1701a
7. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. carnal
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. carnalis
9. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. carnalis
10. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 113
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. carnal
12. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. carnal
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 235
14. ^ a b c d Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. carnal
15. ^ a b c Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. carnal
16. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. carnal
17. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. carnal
18. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. carnal
19. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. carnal
20. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1821
21. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. carnal
22. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. carnal