Asturian-American Migration Forum

duernu: pronounced dweir-NOO. Sustantivu (noun) to designate the wooden trough or boxlike receptacle used in Asturias to collect the juice of industrially pressed apples at a llagar (cider factory). Usually made from the hollowed half of a chestnut or oak tree. Synonyms at basin, receptacle, tub, vat, pit, sink, drain, sinkhole, waterway, concavity.

duerna: pronounced dweir-NAH. Chiefly West Asturian. Sustantivu (noun) designating the wooden trough, usually long and narrow, for holding water or feed for pigs, cows, goats, sheep or horses. Any of various similar troughs from a hollowed tree used for kneading or washing. The duerna is also used to salt meat for storage after the killing of swine following the Samartin holiday.

Usage examples:

Lo que gusta-y a esi rapaz ye la sidra’l duernu. [What that guy really likes is the non-fermented apple juice]
La sidra del duernu equi ye de baldre. [The non-fermented apple juice is free here]
Au metiste el duernu pal ganau? Metilu na panera. [Where did you put the trough for the cows? I put it in the granary]
Pepe tien la duerna a salar de Grandas na planta baxo del museu. [Pepe has the wooden trough from Grandas in the lower floor of the museum]
Echei la l.labaza na duerna pa los gochos.

According to the Corominas etymological dictionary, a possible derivation of the Celtic root DURNO, in Irish Gaelic dorn, Welsh dwrn (fist), Breton dourn (hand). The word ‘duerna’ is first mentioned in a document from Leon in 1494. In Galician, according to Carlos from this forum, a ‘dorna’ is the barrel used to ferment wine, as well as the name given to a small skiff. For a more exhaustive etymology, courtesy of Carlos, go to this link: http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2314

In the etymology dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/), the word trough itself may be related to duernu through the root ‘dru-‘, meaning wood or tree:

O.E. trog, from P.Gmc. *trugoz (cf. O.Fris., O.S., O.N. trog, M.Du. troch, Du. trog, O.H.G. troc, Ger. trog), perhaps ultimately from PIE *drukos, from base *dru- "wood, tree" (see tree). Originally pronounced in Eng. with a hard -gh- (as in Scottish loch); pronunciation shifted to -f-, but spelling remained.

I suggest "tub" or "vat" as additional possible equivalents in English.

Done. Thanks for your feedback, Bob. It's always appreciated...

Paul and Bob, here we have a typical characteristic of Asturian. The semantic camp of the two words are related, in the sense of being both a kind of receptacle or container. However the main difference between a duernu and a duerna is not the utilisation or the substance deposed into, but the size of them.

In Asturian two similar objects, alive beings or human body parts, but having different size, receive masculine or female gender, ever masculine for the smaller and female for the bigger.

For example, all the fingers of hands and feet are "un déu", but the thumb, specifically of the foot, is "la dea".

If we have a little window in a house, as for example those of the traditional hamlets, this is "un ventanu", but the larger in modern houses is "una ventana".

This is a "grillu":



but this is a "grilla":



And so "un paxu" and "una paxa", etc.

Gracies, Carlos. Agora alcuerdome que me dixeras esto hai tiempu, pero tenialo escaecio. Ia verda que un goxu ia mas piqueno que una goxa. Ya igual pasa con furacu ya furacaya. Vou ver si sou quien a atoupar outros exemplos. Saludinos.

The grillu looks like a kind of cricket to me and the grilla like some kind of locust or grasshopper.

N'asturianu, are there exceptions to the two genders of the word covering the same semantic field? What about the neuter in asturianu?

Yes Bob, there are some exceptions to the rule. For example, between "hachu" and "hacha", being the first bigger:

An "hacha", "bruesa" or "gruesa":



and an "hachu" at a demonstration of traditional sports:



It's necessary to say that the exception is not complete, it depends on the place of Asturies. Some times the masculine gender corresponds to the smaller axe.

Touching to the neuter, in Asturian this works normally as in Spanish, for example for abstract concepts. But there is another way for the Asturian neuter, the so called "material neuter", used in adjectives for substances in general or for not accountable objects.

For the first use, similar in Asturian and in Spanish:

Sp. masc. "un edificio bonito", fem. "una casa bonita", neut. "lo bonito de la vida".
Ast. masc. "un xalé guapu", fem. "una casa guapa", neut. "lo guapo de la vida".

For the second, exclusive of Asturian:

Nouns:

Sp. masc. "un pelo" ('a hair', single), masc. "el pelo" ('the hair', collective)
Ast. masc. "el pelu" ('this hair', single), neut. "el pelo" ('the hair', collective)

When the object of the enunciate is a single one, in Asturian can be a gender difference between masculine and female, but when one speaks collectivelly, the gender is neuter:

Ast. masc. "dami esi fierru que tá ehí" ('give me this iron object', for example a bar), but neut. "en Vizcaya hai muncho fierro" ('in Biscay there is a lot of iron')

The "material neuter" is specially evident in adjectives applied to nouns with different gender:

Ast. masc. "esi rapaz ye guapu" ('this guy is handsome'), fem. "esa rapaza ye guapa" ('this girl is pretty'), neut. "la xente guapo" ('the upper class people' or 'the handsome people in general').

The gender of those nouns is not determined by the article or the end of the word, but by the end of the adjective. For example, in "la gente", "gente" is a noun with female gender, determined by the article "la". But in collective nouns, not accountable substances, etc, is the end of the adjective which determines the neuter gender, ever with a final -O, not -U like in masculine nor -A as in femenine. It's so as one can find some apparently contradictory expressions as:

"la xente mozo, la xente vieyo, la ropa sucio, l'agua puerco, la sidra fresco".

This especial type of neuter is not totally extended to all Asturian language, but only to Central and Eastern dialects. Only a few places of Western Asturian-speaking zones, near to the Central ones, use this neuter.

And last, there is a little difference between Central and Eastern Asturian. In the first zone, gender marks are masc. -U, fem. -A and neut. -O, but in Eastern dialects those marks are masc. -U, fem. -A and neut. -U. So, we have "la ropa suciu".