agro

agro¹ sour

Pronunciation

• /ˈa.ɡro/^[1]

Forms

agro (feminine agra, masculine plural agri, feminine plural agre)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “sour” is inherited from Vulgar Latin ācrus, the Late Latin form of Latin ācer (“sharp, pungent, sour”), moved from the third declension to the first and second.^[2][3][1] The Appendix Probi (4th century) already corrects ⟨acrum⟩ to ⟨acre⟩.^[4] The same word is French aigre, Occitan agre, Catalan agre, Spanish agro, Portuguese agro, Sardinian agru and Romanian acru.^[3][4] In much of the Romance area it replaced acidus.^[4]

The form with ⟨g⟩ shows the voicing of northern Italy: the LEI separates the native popular forms from those brought in from the north, and Old Italian also had acro (Dante, Petrarch).^[4][5] Wiktionary takes the form with ⟨g⟩ as probably borrowed from Gallo-Italic, displacing the inherited form.^[1] The learned doublet is acre.^[2][1] The Latin adjective goes back to a root Proto-Indo-European *ak- (“sharp”) meaning sharpness, also behind ago.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bono Giamboni's Florentine Vizi e Virtudi, before 1292, in the figurative sense “harsh, severe”.^[6][2][3] The taste sense “sour, pungent” is recorded in 1310.^[2] GRADIT dates the word to the second half of the 12th century, Zingarelli to 1266.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used agro for anything sharp to taste or smell, for a shrill sound and for metal that is hard and brittle;^[6] vino agro was vinegar.^[6] Figuratively it meant painful, bitter, violent or rough, as of a road or a style.^[6] As a noun it named a sour taste and lemon juice from the late 16th century (Soderini), and sadness from the 17th: Lippi writes Raddolcì l'agro de' lor mesti visi (“sweetened the sourness of their sad faces”).^[2][9] A law of 1982 gave the name agro to products of acetic fermentation of materials other than wine, which may not be called vinegar.^[10]

Derivatives include agrezza (about 1350), agrore (1549) and agretto (before 1636).^[2] Agrodolce “sweet and sour” is from French aigre-doux.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 4th century – The Appendix Probi corrects Latin acrum to acre.^[4]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses agro for “harsh, severe”.^[2][6][3]
• 1310 – Agro is recorded for a sour, pungent taste.^[2]
• 1318–1320 – Agrume is recorded for a sour-tasting vegetable.^[3]
• About 1350 – Agrezza is recorded.^[2]
• 1549 – Agrore “sour taste” appears in L. Alamanni.^[2]
• Before 1597 – The noun agro “sour taste; lemon juice” appears in Soderini.^[2]
• Before 1665 – Lippi uses agro for sadness.^[2]
• 1982 – An Italian law names the acetic products of materials other than wine agro.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sour, acid, like lemon or unripe fruit: le prugne erano ancora agre.^[7][12][8]
2. (figurative) Harsh, sharp, showing ill will: una risposta agra e sgarbata.^[7][8][13]
3. (literary) Annoying, unpleasant; showing vexation; of a sound, shrill.^[7][12]

Noun

1. Sourness, a sour taste.^[7][8][13]
2. The juice of lemons or other citrus fruits;^{[7][8][13][1]} all’agro, dressed with lemon or vinegar.^{[7][8][13][1]}
3. A product of the acetic fermentation of materials other than wine: agro di frutta.^[7][10]
4. (figurative) rancour, ill feeling;^[7][8][13] (literary) sadness.^[7][8][13]

Word family

• agramente
• agrodolce
• agretto
• agrezza
• agrore
• agresto
• agrume

agro² countryside around a town

Etymology tree of agro²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ager

Italian agro

From the same root · agro²

Latin agellus ← ager

Latin agrārius ← ager

Latin agrestis ← ager

Latin agricola ← ager

Latin agricultiō ← ager

Latin agricultor ← ager

Latin agrimēnsor ← ager

Latin agripeta ← ager

Latin peragrō ← ager

Pronunciation

• /ˈa.ɡro/^[1]

Forms

agro m (plural agri)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the countryside around a town is a learned borrowed from Latin ager (“field”).^[2][3][7][1] The Latin word is from Proto-Italic *agros, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros, and is related to Ancient Greek ἀγρός (agrós), German Acker and English acre.^[1][3] DEI notes that the Latin word has popular continuations in almost all Romance varieties (it was still alive in France in the 10th century), but in southern Italy only in place names, as Latin campus (“plain, field”) gradually took its place.^[14] DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance neuter meaning “field” and “rural territory”, with descendants in every branch except Dalmatian, Friulian and Ladin.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Corsican document of 1220.^[6][8][12] DELI's first is in M. Sanudo, before 1536, for the countryside around a town.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Purists objected to the Latinism: Cesari censured agro for campagna in 1809, and in 1848 Ugolini wrote that the word was so Latin that it needed translating, and that campagna di Roma was better than agro romano.^[2] Tommaseo still called it a Latinism in use, as in agro romano and agro aretino, though campagna was clearer, and recorded the old sense “field”.^[9] Today it lives mainly in the names of districts with an old agricultural identity, such as the Agro Romano, the Agro Pontino and the Agro Campano.^[13][8] With the general Latin sense “field” it is the first element of modern learned words such as agrologia.^[10]

Timeline

• 1220 – Agro is recorded in a Corsican document.^[6][8][12]
• Before 1536 – M. Sanudo uses agro for the countryside around a town.^[2]
• 1809 – Cesari censures agro for campagna.^[2]
• 1848 – Ugolini recommends campagna di Roma over agro romano.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The countryside around a town; with a capital, a named district: Agro Romano, Agro Pontino.^[7][8][13]
2. (historical) In ancient Rome, the territory of a state: agro pubblico, the land declared the property of the conquering people.^[12][10]
3. (literary) A field, farm or countryside.^[16]

Word family

• agrario
• agreste
• agricoltura
• agricoltore
• agrimensore
• agronomo
• agricolo