Moreno Vs Marrano

Question

Is there or were there once any relation between the Spanish word Marrano and Moreno. In the Inquisition times Marrano was a title given to the Jews which means pig. I was told that my family name of Moreno has the same meaning but in modern Spanish it translates to brown. Before the rise of Modern Spanish did these words have very similar meanings or could moreno be a slang word for pig back then.

¡Muchos Gracias!

Answer 1

Going at it from a strictly linguistic standpoint, there are two different phonemes in each word.

"Moreno" has "o" not "a" . Secondly it has only the single "r" not the "rr" sound which are two different phonemes, signaling a change in meaning. Viz. "pero" vs. "perro." and "caro" vs. "carro."

I don't see how they can be related when you have not only one but two phonemes which significantly signals a change in meaning.

Answer 2

This is what I thought until I was told it came from the word marrano. I definly know in modern Castilian moreno means brown but I am trying to find a relation between Moreno and Marrano that would of caused them to relate to each other in the Inquisition times

.... that would "have" caused them to relate :) - ian-hill, Nov 17, 2016

See my last link (the one for moreno). It does not indicate a relation to marrano- instead a derivation from latin, as opposed to the arabic derivation of marrano. Do you have a source saying they are related? - bosquederoble, Nov 17, 2016

I saw the source. My only source I have is a Spanish rabbi who told me that the words were related and that the name was given strictly to the victims of the Spanish Inqusition. I am just trying to find more information about it. - 007a44ff, Nov 17, 2016

Answer 3

I was also given information stating that Moreno is a variant of the name Morano which means Marrano

Answer 4

To my knowledge, no. Moreno is from moro (=Moor) which is from the Latin for dark. Marrano has a different origin. See these links.

https://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/marrano

Del árabe hispánico *ma?arrám, prohibido, y este del clásico (mu?arram).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrano

The term marrano derives from Arabic mu?arram; meaning "forbidden, anathematized". Marrano in 15th-century Spanish first meant "swine" or "pig", from the ritual prohibition against eating pork, practiced by both Jews and Muslims. In modern Spanish it is a word for pig or a term of mild abuse used against someone who has unclean habits. However, as applied to crypto-Jews, the term Marrano may also derive from the Spanish verb "marrar" meaning "to deviate" or "to err", in the sense that they deviated from their newly adopted faith by secretly continuing to practice Judaism.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrano_(judeoconverso)

Según el hispanista francés Joseph Pérez, la palabra «marrano» tiene una etimología muy discutida. En el Tesoro de Covarrubias de 1611 se dice que «los moros llaman al puerco de un año marrano y pudo ser que al nuevamente convertido, por esta razón y por no comer la carne de cerdo, le llamasen marrano». Pérez reconoce que esta etimología es aceptada por varios autores, pero él considera "mucho más probable que marrano venga del verbo marrar como lo señala el mismo Covarrubias: «marrar es fallar; vocablo antiguo castellano, del qual por ventura... vino el nombre de marrano del judío que no se convirtió llana y simplemente»".6

Para otros autores la palabra «marrano» procede del árabe mu?arram,2 ('cosa prohibida'), expresión usada para designar, entre otras muchas cosas, al cerdo, cuya carne está prohibida para judíos y musulmanes. La palabra se utilizó primero en el romance peninsular para designar a este animal (documentada desde 965). Para designar, de forma hiriente, a los cristianos nuevos está documentada en castellano desde comienzos del siglo XIII,7 seguramente porque estos conversos se abstenían de comer carne de cerdo. En 1691, por ejemplo, Francisco de Torrejoncillo en su libelo antisemita8 Centinela contra judíos: puesta en la torre de la iglesia de Dios con el trabajo, escribía una descripción del término:

https://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/moreno

Del bajo latín *maurinus, y este de maurus. Compárese moro