brunice

Forms

brunice f (plural brunici)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prūna (“live coal”) with a suffix, crossed with cinice “hot ashes”.^[2][3][4][1] Prati starts from *prunisia, a blend of prūna and *cinisia “hot ashes”, the source of cinigia.^[5] Körting gives the derivative as *prunicia.^[6]

DEI and GDLI see the literary word as an adaptation of the northern type Lombard bornis, Emilian burnisa, and note that it lives on at Lucca and Pisa.^[7][8][9] The simple Latin word survives in prona in Old Venetian, Catalan purna (“spark”) and Old Spanish pruna.^[9][7] Latin prūna may be related to pruīna (“hoarfrost”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze, burn”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1550 A. Gallo of Brescia renders the Brescian bornis with bornici.^[5] In standard Italian the word is first found in Pascoli, before 1904: costì, su la brunice, / fa la polenta, “there, on the embers, make the polenta”.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) Hot ashes, embers glowing under the ashes.^[2][3][4][8]

Related words

• cinigia
• brace
• Latin prūna

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 183
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 617
8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 404
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press