Cro-Magnon

English

Etymology

From French Cro-Magnon, from Occitan Cròs-Manhon. Named after Abri de Cro-Magnon, a rock shelter in the commune of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, France, where the first skeletons were found in 1868.

Proper noun

Cro-Magnon

1. The rock shelter in Les Eyzies, France, where the first Cro-Magnon Man specimens were found.

Noun

Cro-Magnon (plural Cro-Magnons or Cro-Magnon)

1. (archaeology) The earliest known form of modern human (Homo sapiens) in Europe, dating from the late Paleolithic.
   • 1994, Seymour W. Itzkoff, The Decline of Intelligence in America: A Strategy for National Renewal‎^[1], Greenwood Publishing Group (Praeger Publishers), page 14:

     The Cro-Magnons may have been one important step beyond the Neanderthals in social organization. […] That the Cro-Magnons and the Neanderthals encountered each other is probable. There seems to be no more than a five-thousand-year interval between the general occupation of home sites by the Neanderthals and their replacement by Cro-Magnon tools and fossils.

   • 2006, Lyndall Baker Landauer, The Learning Pool: Basic Science Everyone Needs to Know, Xlibris, page 85:

     The Cro Magnon came to live in Europe around forty thousand years ago and most educated people have heard of them. The Cro Magnon are the ones who created the remarkable cave paintings found in southern France and Spain at Lascaux and Altamira.

   • 2009, Anthony Scioli, Henry B. Biller, Hope in the Age of Anxiety, Oxford University Press, page 44:

     In addition, the latest evidence suggests that the "agricultural revolution" occurred sometime during the second half of the Cro-Magnon era. Anatomically, the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon brains were approximately the same overall size.

2. (derogatory) A backward and stupid person, a knuckle-dragger or troglodyte.

Usage notes

• The term has no formal status, since it refers neither to a particular species or subspecies nor to an archaeological phase or culture. In current scientific literature, the term European early modern human is preferred.

Synonyms

• Cro-Magnon Man, European early modern human

Related terms

• Cro-Magnid, Cro-Magnoid

Translations

earliest known form of modern human, in Europe

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 克羅馬儂人／克罗马侬人 (Kèluómǎnóng rén)

• Czech: kromaňonec m
• Finnish: Cro-Magnonin ihminen
• French: homme de Cro-Magnon (fr) m, Cro-Magnon (fr) m
• German: Cro-Magnon-Mensch m
• Japanese: クロマニョン人 (Kuromanyon jin)
• Occitan: òme de Cròsmanhon m, Cròsmanhon m, Cròs-Manhon m
• Russian: кроманьо́нец (ru) m (kromanʹónec), кроманьо́нка f (kromanʹónka)

Further reading

• Cro-Magnon rock shelter on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• European early modern humans on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Occitan Cròs-Manhon. Francization of the Occitan. Equivalent to creux +‎ Magnon. The name Manhon derives from manhon from Latin magnus.

Proper noun

Cro-Magnon m

1. the cave where the first Cro-Magnon Man specimens were found, in Les Eyzies, France

Noun

Cro-Magnon m (plural Cro-Magnons)

1. Ellipsis of homme de Cro-Magnon.: Cro-Magnon, a variety of early homo sapiens found in Europe

Descendants

• English: Cro-Magnon