allume

Forms

allume m (plural allumi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin alūmen (“alum”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word survives in nearly all the Romance languages but not in Romanian:^[5] Romansh alun, French alun (Old French from before 1105), Occitan alum, Catalan alum (1252), Spanish alumbre (1250) and Portuguese ume, from a phrase ⟨*pedra alume⟩ “alum stone”.^[6][3][7] It also reached Germanic, as German Alaun.^[5] As a neuter of the consonant declension, it varies between masculine and feminine in Italian, with the masculine more common.^[6] Devoto suggests that the doubled ⟨ll⟩ comes from a crossing with lume, so that the word was read as a compound with ad-.^[8]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[2][3][4] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *alu- (“bitter substance”), from which the Latin noun was formed as bitūmen was formed on a shorter stem, and links alūta (“soft leather”), leather treated with alum.^[9] He allows a connection with Ancient Greek ἀλύδοιμος (alúdoimos, “bitter”) and perhaps with the word for beer in Old English ealu and Lithuanian alùs, but thinks the word may have come from a European substrate language.^[9][10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is alume in a Sienese document of 1277–1282; the form allume appears in Z. Bencivenni in 1310.^[2][11] The word names the mineral salt used in tanning, dyeing and medicine.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Medieval merchants and craftsmen distinguished many kinds of alum by origin and quality, such as allume di Castiglione from North Africa, allume di piuma and allume di rocca.^[11][6] Until the late Middle Ages most alum was imported from the East; after trade with the Levant was cut off in 1458, the mines of Tolfa near Civitavecchia were worked.^[6] Older writers also gave the name to other salts that looked or acted like alum.^[12][6]

The derivatives of the chemical age came partly through other languages: allumina is French alumine, coined by G. de Morveau in 1782 and recorded in Italian in 1819, and alluminio (1819) is from English aluminium.^[2][3] Alluminifero “containing alum” is recorded in 1852 and allumare, to treat cloth with alum before dyeing, in 1863.^[2]

Timeline

• 1277–1282 – Alume is recorded in a Sienese document.^[2][11]
• 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses allume.^[6]
• 1310 – Z. Bencivenni uses the form allume.^[2]
• 1458 – Trade with the Levant is cut off and the Tolfa mines are worked.^[6]
• 1782 – G. de Morveau coins French alumine.^[2]
• 1819 – Allumina and alluminio are recorded.^[2][3]
• 1852 – Alluminifero is recorded.^[2]
• 1863 – Allumare appears in the Crusca dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry) alum: a double sulphate of a monovalent and a trivalent metal that crystallizes with water.^[4][13][14]
2. Potassium alum, especially allume di rocca, used in tanning, as a mordant in dyeing and in medicine as an astringent and styptic.^{[4][15][14][13]}

Word family

• allumina
• alluminio
• allumare
• alluminifero
• allumite
• allumiera

Related words

• lume
• Latin alumen
• French alun
• English alum

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 137
6. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 423
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 28
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier