Everything about The Corna totally explained
The
corna (
Italian for
horns, also
mano cornuta,
horned hand fare le corna,
to make the horns, or simply the
devil horns) is a hand
gesture with a
vulgar meaning in Mediterranean countries and a variety of meanings and uses in other cultures. Its origins can be traced to
Ancient Greece.
It is realized by extending the
index and
little fingers while holding the
middle and
ring fingers down with the
thumb.
It is identical to the
Karana mudra of
Eastern religions. While the "
Hook 'em Horns" sign used by fans of
University of Texas athletics is visually similar, it's used in different context.
The corna isn't to be confused as the sign for "I love you" in
American Sign Language, which is made by also extending the thumb, or the
shaka sign used in
Hawaii, which is made by extending just the thumb and little finger.
While some confuse the corna as a demonic sign relating to satanic music, it was actually first used by
Ronnie James Dio, a heavy metal singer associated with such acts as Elf,
Dio, and
Black Sabbath and Rainbow. Dio picked it up from his devoutly Catholic grandmother, with whom he was very close. His grandmother said it was to grab the evil eye, and it away at arm's length. One can see the gesture used many times by Dio, as well as in concerts. It lives on in the legacy of many bands, particularly thrash. Bands associated with the corna include
Slayer,
Metallica,
Dio,
Black Sabbath, and
In Flames.
Terminology
The spelling "mano cornuto" is erroneous, the
grammatical gender of the word
mano (meaning "hand") is actually feminine (
la mano), and the expression should therefore be "mano cornut
a", to be pronounced /'mano kor'nuta/. However, the form "mano cornuto" is commonly found in
English.
As a sign of infidelity
In contemporary Italy, the "horns" are placed behind someone's head, or explicitly pointed at a person (in Italian,
fare le corna,
to make the horns). The conveyed meaning is that this person, usually a man, is a
cornuto, a
cuckold, bearing the cuckold's horns. The gesture is used with the same meaning in many countries: in Spanish-speaking countries (known as
los cuernos), Portugal and Brazil (
cornos), Albania (
briret), Slovakia and Czech Republic (known as
paroháč), and Greece (
κέρατα).
To place
corna on someone's head when taking a picture is a common joke (similar to using the
V sign as "bunny ears" among Americans), and young Italian
tourists in foreign countries might be noticed looking nervously over their shoulders in group pictures. Italian premier
Silvio Berlusconi was seen displaying the
corna in some mundane happenings, the most famous being a meeting where he put them over the Spanish ex-
foreign minister Piqué.
The origin of this use of the idea of horns has been said to derive from the legend of the
Minotaur, who was born from queen
Pasiphaë's infidelity with a white bull, betraying her husband King
Minos of
Crete; the most prominent proof of the betrayal, the horned offspring, was taken as its symbol.
Superstition
When confronted with unfortunate events, or just when these are mentioned or suggested, a person wanting to avoid that fate could resort to the
corna to ward off bad luck. It is a more vulgar equivalent of
knocking on wood. Interestingly, superstitious ones can alternatively "touch iron" (
tocca ferro) or touch their noses, which are not considered as vulgar alternatives, or (for males) grab their
testicles (the left one with the right hand in
Argentina, a country very influenced by the Italian culture), which is considered very vulgar, but is perhaps the most commonplace of the three. All of these gestures are meant to somehow conjure some supernatural power to protect the performer of the gesture.
Such gestures are typically used when a
black cat crosses one's path, when seeing a
hearse (whether or not it's loaded), or when encountering any situation, object or person believed to bring about bad luck. It was once thought to prevent or distract the effects of the
Evil Eye, that's of intentional or directed
curses. Historically the gesture was pointed at people suspected of being
witches.
President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Leone shocked the country when, visiting
Naples during an
outbreak of
cholera, shook the hands of the
patients with one hand, and with the other, behind the back, made the
corna. This act was well documented, as all
journalists and
photographers were right behind him, a fact that had escaped President Leone's mind in that moment. The gesture was interpreted especially as offensive for the patients.
Pointing the index and little finger at someone is a common Italian curse as well as an accusation of cuckoldry.
European and North American popular culture
Satanism
Anton LaVey popularized it as a
Satanic salute in the 1960s. His image was often in the press, and the sign appears on many of his photos, such as on the back of the
Satanic Bible.
Rock and Heavy Metal
It also has a variety of meanings in
U.S. heavy metal and
rock music subcultures, where it's known by a variety of terms:
devil sign,
devil horns,
goat horns,
metal horns, metal sign, sticks up, throwing the goat, Sign of the goat, throwing the horns, evil fingers, the horns, forks, metal fist, rock fist, fist of rock, or the "Rock on!" sign.
Ronnie James Dio is known for popularizing the corna sign in
heavy metal. His Italian grandmother used it to ward off the
evil eye (
malocchio or
moloch as Dio calls it). Dio began using the sign soon after joining (1979) the metal band
Black Sabbath. The previous singer in the band,
Ozzy Osbourne, was rather well known at using the
"peace" sign at concerts, raising the index and middle finger in the form of a V. Dio, in an attempt to connect with the fans, wanted to similarly use a hand gesture. However, not wanting to copy Osbourne, he chose to use the sign his grandmother always made.
This account is predated by the Chicago-based psychedelic-pop band
Coven, led by singer
Jinx Dawson, whose 1969 album for "Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls" included a poster showing band members making the sign. Incidentally, the band also wrote a song called "Black Sabbath," and one of the band members was named Oz Osborne, not to be confused with Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath fame. The horns became famous in metal concerts very soon after Black Sabbath's first tour with Dio.
Flipping the horns is a serious gesture, and the more serious metal heads insist it may only be used in the appropriate situation, or for an appropriate band. Overall, many within the metal head community feel the gesture is being cheapened and commercialized. Also, many metal heads claim that since flipping the horns originated in heavy metal, using it for rock or any other genre of music is inappropriate.
On the cover of
The Beatles'
Yellow Submarine album (December 1968),
John Lennon's right hand is making the sign above
Paul McCartney's head. For many fans, this was one of the many "
Paul is dead" clues.
Frank Zappa can be seen making the gesture in the 1977 film "
Baby Snakes".
From an interview with Ronnie James Dio on Metal-Rules.com:
Metal-Rules.com – "I want to ask you about something people have asked you about before but will no doubt continue to talk about, and that's the sign created by raising your index and little finger. Some call it the "devils hand" or the "evil eye." I'd like to know if you were the first one to introduce this to the metal world and what this symbol represents to you?"
R.J. Dio – "I doubt very much if I'd be the first one who ever did that. That's like saying I invented the wheel, I'm sure someone did that at some other point. I think you'd have to say that I made it fashionable. I used it so much and all the time and it had become my trademark until the Britney Spears audience decided to do it as well. So it kind of lost its meaning with that. But it was…I was in Sabbath at the time. It was symbol that I thought was reflective of what that band was supposed to be all about. It's NOT the devil's sign like we're here with the devil. It's an Italian thing I got from my Grandmother called the "Malocchio". It's to ward off the Evil Eye or to give the Evil Eye, depending on which way you do it. It's just a symbol but it had magical incantations and attitudes to it and I felt it worked very well with Sabbath. So I became very noted for it and then everybody else started to pick up on it and away it went. But I'd never say I take credit for being the first to do it. I say because I did it so much that it became the symbol of rock and roll of some kind."
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Whatever its origin in the heavy metal scene, metal fans embraced the gesture as a vague symbol of
mysticism,
evil, or simply "metal-ness", and it soon became nearly as commonplace at concerts as
headbanging. The gesture has since spread beyond metal to all forms of
rock music and it's now nearly ubiquitous. In rock situations the gesture is interpreted as a benign gesture for "Rock on." It is also used simply to communicate to the on-stage band (mostly heavy metal bands) that you're enjoying the show and their music.
Rock fans often use the hand gesture in electronic conversations, for group identification. It's usual to express it with the letters "l", "m" and "l" put together (other variations include using "", "m" and "/" to make m/). The formed lml symbol supposedly reminds one of the arrangement of the fingers in the actual gesture. Many variants may be used, all of which represent the index finger and little finger with long vertical characters, with the middle finger and ring finger represented with smaller characters, and sometimes with the addition of a character representing the thumb or even a complete ASCII face.
Other uses
- The gesture is often used by supporters of sports teams, without evoking vulgar or Satanic associations. The University of Texas, is one such team, where it's known as Hook 'em Horns, an approximation of the shape of the horns of a Texas longhorn steer. Longhorn opponents frequently make a similar hand gesture at sporting events with the "horns" pointing downward. Additionally, Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana (whose mascot is Vic the Demon), utilizes the Fork 'em Demons, as well as the University of South Florida (with the mascot being a bull) and the New Mexico Lobos.
- In baseball, the gesture, especially when the forearm is rotated, indicates "two outs." In the common signal for "two" (the index and middle finger raised), the fingers may be too close together for distant outfielders to distinguish the two fingers from one. Elston Howard is commonly credited with originating this use.
- In volleyball the sign can be used (the fingers often points downwards) by the setter to communicate with the attacker, frequently to signal a double quick-attack play with the middle and right-side attackers.
- This is also the primary sign for the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 street gang found throughout Central America and the U.S. Many of the first generation of MS-13 members had been heavy-metal enthusiasts and fans of Black Sabbath.
- In 1996 WCW (World Championship Wrestling) begin using the symbol for their nWo heel stable with Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. However taken the middle and ring finger and connecting them to the thumb to give the symbol the look of a "wolf" for their nWo "Wolfpac" symbol.
- The Blue Man Group, in their Megastar 2.0 Tour performances, posit a comedic false origin of this gesture as a tribute to rock legend Flopsy the Banjo Clown, a character whose hair is arranged with two large vertical protuberances causing his head to resemble the gesture.
- This is also a part of an unofficial sign for bullshit in American Sign Language. See: Profanity in ASL
- In WWE, it's the signature taunt of Edge.
Use outside North America
In Israel, (in addition to the usual metal usage) the gesture is known as "Shabi" for its similarity to a snail from a children's TV show, Parpar Nehmad.
In Turkey the sign is popular as a nationalist symbol for the Turkish people. It signifies wolf's ears, because of many legends that state wolves were guardians of ancient Turkish tribes near Western China. The tips of the thumb and middle fingers are pressed together to symbolize the wolf's face.
In Hinduism and Buddhism, this gesture is known as the Karana Mudra. Its use in dispelling evil or negative influences is a noticeable juxtaposition to the contemporary uses of this sign.
Variations
Existing most often within the metal subculture is a variation in which both hands are used. All digits, with the exception of the little fingers, are closed and the hands are then brought together; thumb on thumb. This form has been referred to as "too much metal for one hand" or "too much rock for one hand". This technique is often employed by Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Butch Walker and other musicians.
Another form used by the metal subculture (such as the Brazilian band Angra) is similar to the version depicted above, except that all digits except the index finger are closed and the hands are brought together with thumbs pointing in opposite directions. One form features the forearms crossed, the pinkies interlocked, and both thumbs and index fingers extended (sometimes referred to as the "Super Ozzy"). These forms require somewhat more coordinated arm placement and don't allow a free hand for a cold beverage, so most metal concert attendees usually select the more common single-handed incarnation of the horns.
There is a two-person gesture known as the "rock lock", where a second person makes a hand with the second and third finger extended (rather than the first and fourth), and grabs the first person's metal gesture from the front in an interlocking fashion. The meaning is essentially an affirmation or reply to the original gesture made by the first person, something like a heavy metal high five.
Comedian Dane Cook has formulated two variations, One, "Rock n' Roll quotes," involves forming the devil horns and moving the index and little fingers in the manner of air quotes. The other, the "superfinger," is inverted devil horns, with the thumb, middle finger, and ring finger extended and other fingers retracted, displayed with the back of the hand to the audience as if giving them the finger.
Guitarist Olliver Kirby is known to play with his strumming hand as a Corna, using his thumb to strum. Angus Young holds both his hands to the sides of his head with index fingers extended to create "Devil Horns". Aleister Crowley made the 'horns of Pan' sign by placing both hands on either side of his head, palms in, thumbs out.
Further Information
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