varón

See also: varon and váron

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese baron (13th century), further origin uncertain. First attested as Medieval Latin baro in the 5th century Salian Law meaning "man". It appears as such in other Germanic laws (as barus in Alemannic ones) and is later glossed by Isidore (Or. 9.4.31) as "mercenary soldier". The original meaning could have been "man", especially in relation to some one else, as in "the king's man," passing on one side into "servant, vassal," on another into "man as opposed to slave, freeman," also as opposed to wife "husband," as opposed to female "male." It could derive:

• from Proto-Germanic *barō via Frankish *barō, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear”), with the most semantically or formally convincing Germanic cognate being Old English beorn (“man, warrior”), itself of uncertain origin;
• from Proto-Germanic *warō (“protector”), *warōną (“to watch, protect”), as has been suggested by George G. Nicholson. The borrowing of /w/ as /b/ instead of /gw/, as in gardar, would be irregular;
• some relation to Classical Latin bārō (“dunce, lout”) and bardus (“stupid”), both of unknown etymology, is still possible.

Doublet of barón. Cognate to Portuguese varão, Spanish barón and varón, French baron, Italian barone.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈɾoŋ/

Noun

varón m (plural varóns)

1. man (adult male human)
   • 13th century, Antonio López Ferreiro (ed.), Fueros municipales de Santiago y de su tierra. Madrid: Ediciones Castilla, p. 699:

     aquel pecado escumungado que fazen os barones unos con outros

     that excommunicated sin that men do with one another

   • c1295, Ramón Lorenzo (ed.), La traducción gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla. Ourense: I.E.O.P.F,, page 814:

     ca esta (he) muy boa et nobre rreyna dona Berĩguela co[m] tamana aguça gardou sempre este fillo et llj meteu no curaçõ feyto de obras de piedade de ome barõ, mãçebo et nino, et todo linagẽ de omes -esto he barõ et moller-

     because this very noble and excellent queen, Lady Berenguela, with great care protected her son and put in his heart acts of piety of adult man, young man and boy, and of all the lineage of men - that is, man and woman -

Derived terms

• baril
• bon varón

Related terms

• barón
• baronesa
• baronía

Further reading

• Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1983–1991) , “barón”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN
• “baron” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “baron” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “varon” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “varón” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “varón” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
• baron" in Gallaeciae Monumenta Historica

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Spanish

Etymology

Origin uncertain. First attested as Medieval Latin baro in the 5th century Salian Law, meaning "man". It appears as such in other Germanic laws (as barus in Alemannic ones) and is later glossed by Isidore (Or. 9.4.31) as "mercenary soldier". The original meaning could have been "man", especially in relation to some one else, as in "the king's man," passing on one side into "servant, vassal," on another into "man as opposed to slave, freeman," also as opposed to wife "husband," as opposed to female "male." It could derive:

• from Proto-Germanic *barō via Frankish *barō, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear”), with the most semantically or formally convincing Germanic cognate being Old English beorn (“man, warrior”), itself of uncertain origin;
• from Proto-Germanic *warō (“protector”), *warōną (“to watch, protect”), as has been suggested by George G. Nicholson. The borrowing of /w/ as /b/ instead of /gw/, as in guardar, would be irregular;
• some relation to Classical Latin bārō (“dunce, lout”) and bardus (“stupid”), both of unknown etymology, is still possible.

Doublet of barón. Cognate to Portuguese varão, Galician varón and barón, French baron, Italian barone.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈɾon/, [ba.ˈɾõn]
• Homophone: barón
• Rhymes: -on

Noun

varón m (plural varones)

1. person of male sex

   Synonyms: hombre, macho

   Antonym: hembra

   un estudiante varón ― a male student

   • 1882, José Zorrilla, chapter IX, in La leyenda del Cid:

     Y es: que entonces un varón / poderoso, desterrado / por su Rey, se iba a otro Estado / a servir a otra nación.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

Derived terms

• varonil
• varoncito

Related terms

• barón

Further reading

• “varón” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.