asina

Forms

asina f (plural asine, masculine asino)^[1] Old Italian forms include Ligurian asena, Old Milanese plural asne, Sienese ascina and Lucchese acina.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin asina (“she-ass”), the feminine of asinus (see asino).^[4][1][5][6] DEI calls the Latin word a secondary formation from the masculine, and compares Greek, which used ὄνος (ónos) with the feminine article for the she-ass.^[6] The LEI treats the feminine as a Latin word of its own, continued in Romanian asină, Catalan asne, Spanish asna and Portuguese asna.^[2]

The Latin word for the ass kept its intervocalic ⟨s⟩, which points to a recent loanword.^[7] De Vaan finds the attempt to unite it with the Greek word under a common form unconvincing, and suggests that both go back to a source also seen in the Hieroglyphic Luwian and Sumerian words for the ass.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Florentine document of 1264, with the sense “female donkey”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century the word was also an insult for a coarse woman.^[6][3] Burchiello wrote Asine, troje (“she-asses, sows”), and Sacchetti lists women who think themselves beautiful as asine, brutte, disdegnose e felle.^[8] The Novellino says that the horse is reared on ass's milk.^[8]

Old Italian had the phrase essere la potta dell'asina, said ironically of someone who thought himself important, and the she-ass was used as a figure for the flesh against the soul.^[3] Preachers quoted the words andate, e troverete l'asina legata (“go, and you will find the she-ass tied”), and Segneri tells of the ass of a greedy prophet that saw the angel with the sword.^[8]

Timeline

• 1264 – Asina appears in a Florentine document.^[3][2]
• c. 1300 – Mantuan asena is recorded in Belcalzer.^[2]
• Before 1313 – Sienese ascina appears in Cecco Angiolieri.^[2]
• Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva writes the Milanese plural asne.^[2]
• 1383 – Bolognese asina is recorded in a letter.^[2]
• 1424 – Venetian assena is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A she-ass, a female donkey.^[4][1][8]
2. (figurative, offensive) An ignorant, stupid or coarse woman.^[9][1][3]

Related words

• asino
• Latin asinus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1610
3. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 321
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse