barbo

Forms

barbo m (plural barbi)^[1] A variant is barbio, from Late Latin barbulus.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin barbus, the name Ausonius uses for the fish.^[5][6][7] The fish is named after its four barbels, called barba (“beard”) in Latin;^[5][6][2] Cicero had already spoken of “bearded” mullets.^[5][6][2] The same word is French bar, Occitan barb, Catalan barb, Spanish barbo, Portuguese barbo and Friulian barp.^[6][8][9] A diminutive *barbellus gave French barbeau, from which English barbel is taken.^[7][10][11] The Latin word was also borrowed into German, as Old High German barbo, modern German Barbe.^[11]

The variant barbio continues the Late Latin diminutive, as do ⟨barbolo⟩ and Milanese barbol.^[10][4][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is pesce barbo, in the form balbo, in a Sabine translation of Rusio's treatise on horses from the end of the 14th century: a freshwater fish with two pairs of barbels round its mouth.^[12] Barbio is already in an Aretine Latin glossary of the mid-14th century.^[12]

Semantic evolution

DELI dates barbio to Pulci, before 1484, who lists eels, pike, tench and barbio among the fish to be seen, and barbo to Florio's dictionary of 1598; the LEI cites barbo from Messisbugo's cookery book of 1549.^[5][4][9] Aretino compares people jumping about to barbels leaping out of the water.^[4]

Prati notes that the fish's eggs were thought poisonous.^[10] Oudin's dictionary lists a number of variants, among them barbello, barbione and bàrbolo.^[10] Northern Italian already had in the early Middle Ages a derivative barbone for the red mullet.^[9] In heraldry the barbel is a common charge, drawn upright, curved and in profile.^[13]

Timeline

• Mid-14th century – Barbio appears in an Aretine Latin glossary.^[12]
• Late 14th century – Pesce barbo (balbo) is recorded in a Sabine text.^[12]
• Before 1484 – Pulci uses barbio.^[5][2]
• 1549 – Messisbugo uses barbo.^[9]
• 1598 – Florio records barbo.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) The barbel (Barbus barbus), an edible freshwater fish of the carp family with four barbels (barbigli) on its snout.^{[2][14][15][1]}
2. (zoology) Any fish of the genus Barbus.^[2][13]

Related words

• barba
• barbio
• barbiglio
• Latin barbus

Usage notes

GRADIT also records barbo, from 1955, formed on barba, for a breed of short-billed pigeon with large red wattles round the eyes, also called piccione dagli occhiali.^[2][13][4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 64
5. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 1319
10. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 112
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 434
12. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli