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carnival|ˈkɑːnɪvəl|
Forms: 6 carnoval, carnevale, 7 carnevall, carnivall, 7–8 carnaval, 7– carnival.
[a. It. carnevale, carnovale (whence F. carnaval), evidently related to the med.L. (11–12th c.) names carnelevārium, carnilevāria, carnilevāmen, cited by Carpentier in additions to Du Cange. These appear to originate in a L. *carnem levāre, or It. *carne levare (with infinitive used subst. as in il levar del sole sunrise), meaning ‘the putting away or removal of flesh (as food)’, the name being originally proper to the eve of Ash Wednesday. The actual It. carnevale appears to have come through the intermediate carnelevale, cited by Carpentier from a document of 1130.
The history of the word is illustrated by the parallel med.L. name carnem laxare (cited by Carpentier from a charter of 1050), corresp. to It. *carne lasciare ‘leaving or forsaking flesh’, whence, app. by contraction, the modern carnasciale = carnevale. Carnem laxare, *carne lasciare, *carnelasciale, carnasciale, form a series exactly parallel to *carnem levare, *carne levare, carnelevale, carnevale. Other names having a similar reference are, for Shrove Tuesday, carnicapium ‘flesh-taking’, and carnivora [dies]; for Lent or its beginning, carniprivium, carnisprivium, privicarnium, f. privare to deprive. In all these, ‘flesh’ means meat, and that it was understood to mean the same in carnelevare is shown by many early quotations in Du Cange; e.g. in a MS. of beg. of 13th c. ‘De ludo Carnelevar. In Dominica dimissionis carnis,’ etc. Also ‘Dominica ad vel ante carnes tollendas’; with which compare the Spanish carnes tolendas, ‘shrove-tide’. We must therefore entirely reject the suggestion founded on another sense of levare, ‘to relieve, ease’, that carnelevarium meant ‘the solace of the flesh (i.e. body)’ before the austerities of Lent. The explanations ‘farewell flesh, farewell to flesh’ (from L. vale) found already in Florio, and ‘down with flesh!’ (from F. aval), belong to the domain of popular etymology. (Cf. Dr. Chance in N. & Q. s. 7 IV. 82.)]
1. The season immediately preceding Lent, devoted in Italy and other Roman Catholic countries to revelry and riotous amusement, Shrove-tide; the festivity of this season. High Carnival: the revelry of the Carnival at its height.
Originally (according to Tommaseo and Bellini) ‘the day preceding the first of Lent’; commonly extended to the last three days or the whole week before Lent; in France it comprises Jeudi gras, Dimanche gras, Lundi gras and Mardi gras, i.e. Thursday before Quinquagesima, Quinquagesima Sunday, Monday, and Shrove Tuesday; in a still wider sense it includes ‘the time of entertainments intervening between ‘Twelfth-day’ (or Boxing Day) and Ash Wednesday’ (Littré).
Mid Lent Carnival (Carnaval de la mi-carême): a festivity held on the middle Thursday of Lent, to celebrate the fact that the first half of that season is at an end.
1549Thomas Hist. Italie 85 a, In theyr Carnoual time (whiche we call shroftide). 1565Jewel Repl. Harding Wks. (1609) 4 The Italians..contrary to the Portuise, call the first weeke in Lent the Carneuale. 1632Massinger City Mad. iv. iv, After a carnival Lent ever follows. 1646Evelyn Diary Jan., Shrovetide, when all the world repaire to Venice, to see the folly and madnesse of the Carnevall. 1739Gray Let. to West 16 Nov., This Carnival lasts only from Christmas to Lent; one half of the remaining part of the year is past in remembering the last, the other in expecting the future Carnival. 1756Nugent Gr. Tour, Italy III. 88 The carnival is the season devoted intirely to pleasure, and begins the second holiday after Christmas. 1763J. Brown Poetry & Mus. 202 The Carnaval is, in many Circumstances, almost a Transcript of the ancient Saturnalia of Rome. 1817Byron Beppo vi. 1873Morley Rousseau I. 208 Like distracted masks in high carnival. 1886Pall Mall G. 3 Apr. 10/2 A tragical finale to the gaieties of the Mid-Lenten Carnival..The Carnival of the Mi-Carême..is the great festival of the Parisian blanchisseuses.
2. a. fig. Any season or course of feasting, riotous revelry, or indulgence. Now usu. = festival n. 1 a (see also quots. 1950).
1598Tofte Alba (1880) 102 The Carnouale of my sweet Loue is past, Now comes the Lent of my long Hate. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. xii. 93 To avoid..freer revellings, carnivals and balls. 1765Sterne Tr. Shandy VII. xxvii, During that carnival of sporting. 1816Byron Siege Cor. xvi, He saw the lean dogs..Hold o'er the dead their carnival. 1870Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 348 It was a carnival of intellect without faith. 1916Joyce Portrait of Artist v. 257 She passed now dancing lightly across his memory as she had been that night at the carnival ball, her white dress a little lifted, a white spray nodding in her hair. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria B.C.) 19 Mar. 11/5 The Arena was the scene of a brilliant assemblage of people last night when over eighteen hundred guests attended the ice carnival, and well over one thousand guests joined in the skating. 1950Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IX. 114/2 We now use the word ‘carnival’ in a general sense to describe a particular kind of public celebration or entertainment which includes a fancy dress procession through the streets. Ibid. 115/1 During the summer holiday season,..seaside resorts sometimes arrange imitations of the continental carnival, the main feature being a beauty competition for the election of the Carnival Queen. 1966Oxf. Mail 1 Oct. 1/5 It was not a serious demonstration. Grinning youngsters..baited the police and the crowd of 3,000 turned the occasion into a boisterous carnival. 1968M. Allingham Cargo of Eagles xiv. 158 Travels for a small firm..who make carnival novelties, streamers, funny hats and so on.
b. A fun-fair; circus. N. Amer.
1931J. Littell Carnival Girl (1933) ii. 41 An oblong of trucks surrounding a village of tents. A carnival company! Ibid. iii. 45 The man was offering her a job—with the carnival! 1939[see carny n.]. 1955D. W. Maurer in Amer. Dial. Soc. XXIV. 31 A bank robber would be likely to distrust a carnival grifter on principle. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 6/5 Nobody would be allowed to set up a permanent carnival ride on the grounds of any church in the City of Toronto.
3. attrib.
1605B. Jonson Volpone iv. ii. (1616) 498 For your carniuale concupiscence [cf. Cotgr. Carnavalée]. 1611Coryat Crudities 315 Carnival Shows in Italy like Shrove-Tuesday ones in England..Their Carniuall day..is obserued amongst them in the same manner as our Shroue-tuesday with vs in England. 1709Steele Tatler No. 94 ⁋2 Both of them were at a Play in a Carnival Evening. 1800Coleridge Wallenst. iv. ii, This is a carnival night.
Hence ˌcarnivaˈlesque a., characteristic, or of the style, of the carnival; ˈcarnivaling, ˈcarnivalizing vbl. ns.; also ˈcarnivalite, ˈcarnivaller, one who takes part in a carnival.
1791H. Walpole in Jrnls. & Corr. Miss Berry (1866) I. 289 Your [letter] whets no reply, being merely carnivalesque. 1833Blackw. Mag. XXXIII. 374 This unique and carnivalesque drama. 1841Thackeray Shrove Tuesday in Paris in Wks. (1900) XIII. 570 When they grow old, perhaps, they leave off gallantry and carnivalising. 1866Reader 1 Sept. 760 [The Lord Mayor] in grand carnivalesque pomp. 1881Pop. Sci. Monthly XIX. 151 All shouting and cheering, merry as carnivallers. 1893Westm. Gaz. 25 Feb. 5/3 Feasting on wonderful and uncanny—but very dainty—dishes is another important part of carnivaling. 1896Daily News 19 Feb. 3/4 These fashionable Shrove-tide carnivalites. |