Does the Latin word for meat exclude fish?

[Nobody]

A few minutes ago my mother was talking to a care-giver for my wife. My mother is an extremely devout Catholic and made the comment about fish not being meat. The care-giver seems somewhat easy to influence, so in order to keep my mom from passing along false information, I said that fish was not considered meat by the church for such things as Good Friday, but it’s still technically meat. She argued with me about it and I just dropped the subject.

Anyway, I went searching on Google to find why fish isn’t considered meat, and I ran across this:

In the original Latin text of Pope Paul VI’s apostolic constitution Paenitemini we find the following:

Abstinentiae lex vetat carne vesei, non autem ovis, lacticiniis et quibuslibet condimentis etiam ex adipe animalium [III:1].

(Translation): The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk, or condiments made of animal fat [III:1].

The word used for meat is carnis. In modern English, the word meat can refer to any animal flesh. But, in the Latin cited here, it refers to mammals and birds only. So, fish, seafood, amphibians, and insects are permitted (assuming you want to eat some of them); but mammals and fowls are not.

I tried Googling, but my Google-fu is weak. So, is what’s in the quotes true?

[Nava]

It’s not meat in Spanish or in Catalan, both of which use the word derived from Latin. I imagine we’ll get the Latinists here soon.

“Carne” (ES) and “carn” (CAT) refer to land-based animals, the concept includes fowl but neither fish nor shellfish.

[Nobody]

@Nava

It’s not meat in Spanish or in Catalan, both of which use the word derived from Latin. I imagine we’ll get the Latinists here soon.

“Carne” (ES) and “carn” (CAT) refer to land-based animals, the concept includes fowl but neither fish nor shellfish.

It might be true then that fish are excluded in the Latin definition. Interesting. Thank you.

[jjimm]

This may or may not be germane, but during the foot and mouth crisis I took a ferry from the UK to Ireland, and was searched at the port in Dublin. The guy said “do you have any animal products in the car?” I said “Yes, I have half a chicken sandwich,” and he replied “That’s OK, I’m only looking for meat.” I heard this distinction between bird/fish flesh and livestock flesh several times in Ireland.