English
Marrano
Marrano may come from Spanish marrano ‘crypto-Jew, converso, marrano’.
- Spanishc. 1500–presentmarrano‘crypto-Jew, converso, marrano’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1914Marrano
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Spanishc. 1500–presentmarrano‘crypto-Jew, converso, marrano’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1914Marrano
Earliest quotation: 1914, Israel Zangwill: “Look at the Crypto-Jews, the Marranos, who for centuries…”
The story
From Spanish marrano, of disputed origin.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. Perhaps a transferred use of marrano (‘hog’), but many sources regard them as distinct words.
Every English word from Spanish marrano
Today it means
noun Any of the Sephardi Jews who stayed in Iberia during the Spanish Inquisition, and continued to practice Judaism in secret.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Spanish marrano / Marrano