Marrano

American  

[muh-rah-noh] / məˈrɑ noʊ /

noun

Marranos plural

1. a Spanish or Portuguese Jew who was converted to Christianity during the late Middle Ages, usually under threat of death or persecution, especially one who continued to adhere to Judaism in secret.

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Marrano British  

/ məˈrɑːnəʊ /

noun

1. a Spanish or Portuguese Jew of the late Middle Ages who was converted to Christianity, esp one forcibly converted but secretly adhering to Judaism

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Marranos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Marrano

< Spanish: literally, pig, from the Jewish law forbidding the eating of pork (probably < Arabic maḥram forbidden)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Marrano Marranos

Portugal fell to a Marrano physician who had escaped from the Inquisition.

From Dreamers of the Ghetto by Zangwill, Israel

Burning to punish the Marrano, or apostate Moor, as he called Alexander, Giuliano stirred the king with taunts and menaces until Charles felt he could delay his march no longer.

From Renaissance in Italy, Volume 1 (of 7) The Age of the Despots by Symonds, John Addington

Two writers of Marrano origin, wide as the poles asunder in gifts of mind and character, represented two aspects of the aspiration of the Jews towards a place in the wider world.

From Chapters on Jewish Literature by Abrahams, Israel

With equal force it dominated the being of Solomon Molcho, the enthusiastic youth who, at one time a Marrano, on his public return to Judaism proclaimed the speedy regeneration of Israel.

From Jewish History : an essay in the philosophy of history by Dubnow, S. M. (Simon Markovich)

She at once addressed herself to the reigning Sultan, Solyman the Magnificent, and entreated his intervention, on the ground that the Marrano Jews in Ancona were for the most part Turkish subjects.

From Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question by Wolf, Lucien

The Marranos were the Jews that converted to Christianity but continued to practice Judaism in the cellar.

From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2017

In the 1920s, Army Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto, a descendant of Marranos, converted to Judaism and helped establish a synagogue and seminary in Oporto.

From Time Magazine Archive

The secrecy is senseless, in a way. since most of their neighbors know that the Marranos are Jews.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Marranos shun all Saturday work, a telltale sign of their identity, but paradoxically, most of the men have not been circumcised because that could disclose their secret.

From Time Magazine Archive

Could they have been genuine converts, these Marranos, or New Christians? he asked himself.

From Dreamers of the Ghetto by Zangwill, Israel