bufalo

Forms

bufalo m (plural bufali)^[1] Old and dialect forms include buffalo, bufolo, bufaro and bufalu.^[2] Bufolo and buffolo survive as literary and regional variants.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin bufalus, a dialect form of Latin būbalus (“antelope; wild ox”), which is from Ancient Greek βούβαλος (boúbalos, “antelope”).^[5][6][7][1] The form with ⟨f⟩ first appears in Venantius Fortunatus in the 6th century and replaced the classical form in Italy.^[5][8] Ascoli explained it as a dialect variant of the Latin word;^[5][8][9] DEI calls it an Osco-Umbrian adaptation, and Devoto a rustic form beside the urban one.^[5][8][9] Nocentini explains the ⟨f⟩ as a change of ⟨b⟩ between vowels, by dissimilation from the initial ⟨b⟩, as in bifolco.^[6]

In Latin and Greek the word named an antelope or gazelle;^[5][8] Pliny also used it for the aurochs or the bison.^[5][8] The water buffalo itself reached Italy with the Lombards: Paul the Deacon dates its arrival to the reign of Agilulf, in 596, and DEI says the animals were a gift from an Avar prince.^[5][8] The origin of the Greek word is uncertain;^[3][8] DEI compares a Sanskrit name of the wild buffalo and takes both as loans from an eastern language.^[3][8]

Related forms are Occitan brufol, Catalan brufol, Spanish búfalo and Portuguese búfalo.^[6][10][11] French buffle was borrowed from Italian, and the word spread from there to Büffel and English buffalo.^[6][10][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo's treatise of 1282, where the bull stands as a sign for several animals like itself, “such as the bull and the buffalo” (come 'l toro e 'l bufalo).^[2][12] Bono Giamboni used the word in the same years, and Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294, wrote buffalo.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Old Italian Crescenzi translation describes bufoli as oxen that are black, large, strong and almost untameable.^[12] Pulci's Morgante has the buffalo led by a ring in its nose, an image behind the old phrase for leading someone by the nose.^[12][13] The forms buffolo (Machiavelli, 1517) and bufolo (1797) lived on beside bufalo.^[5]

The figurative sense of a clumsy, coarse man is recorded in Bibbiena's comedy Calandria in 1521.^[5] Common expressions are mangiare come un bufalo, to eat a great deal, and soffiare come un bufalo, to pant heavily.^[3][4] The feminine bufala names the female buffalo, whose milk is used for mozzarella.^[1][7]

French buffle came from the Italian word, according to DEI through Brunetto Latini, who lived in France;^[8][1] Middle High German, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch took the word from French.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 6th century – Late Latin bufalus appears in Venantius Fortunatus.^[5][8]
• 596 – According to Paul the Deacon, the buffalo is brought to Italy under the Lombard king Agilulf.^[5]
• 1281–1288 – Salimbene uses Medieval Latin bubalus.^[5]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses Italian bufalo.^[5][2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini writes buffalo.^[5]
• 1517 – Machiavelli writes buffolo.^[5]
• 1521 – Bibbiena uses the word for a clumsy, coarse man.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), a large ruminant with long backward-curving horns and sparse dark hair, also kept for work and milk.^[7][14][4]
2. A name for several other wild cattle, such as the African buffalo (bufalo cafro).^[7][14][15]
3. (figurative) A dull, coarse or clumsy person: Non fare il bufalo, siediti con calma.^[7][3][16]

Word family

• bufala
• bufalino
• bufalaio
• bufalara
• bufalotto
• imbufalirsi

Related words

• Latin bubalus
• French buffle

Usage notes

Bufalo americano is a loose name for the bison (bisonte).^[15] The female is bufala.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 627
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ 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, 428
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse