Etymologically
Log in

bugia

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 21:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Italian has two nouns spelled bugia: the lie, from Occitan, and the candleholder, from French.[1][2] DELI numbers the candleholder first, GRADIT and Nocentini the lie, which is also recorded first.[1][3][2]

bugia1 lie

Pronunciation

  • /buˈd͡ʒi.a/, /buˈʒi.a/[4]

Forms

bugia f (plural bugie)[4] Old forms include Old Italian bausia, Old Italian bosia, Old Italian buscia and Old Italian buxia.[5][1] The diphthong of bausia is found in Lombardy and Venice in the early 13th century and survives in Friulian bausie.[6]

Etymology

The lie is borrowed from Old Occitan bauzia (“deceit, treachery”), from Frankish *bausī (“wickedness”).[1][2][3][7][4] The Germanic word is the source of Old High German bōsi (“bad”) and German böse (“evil”), and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic *bausuz (“puffed up, bad”).[2][4][8]

The LEI doubts the Occitan route: the Friulian form keeps its diphthong, which an Occitan word could hardly have done on its way through northern Italy, and Carolingian Latin already had Medieval Latin bauzia (“fraud, treachery”) (959) and the verb bausiare (“to deceive”).[6] It sets out from Old High German *bausja (“wickedness”).[6] DELI also allows a direct borrowing, and Prati keeps Occitan only as a possible intermediary.[1][9]

The derivative bugiardo comes from the northern Old Italian bugiadro, with the suffix -ardo in place of the older ending.[1] Old Occitan bauzador lies behind it in Meyer-Lübke's view.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century.[5] The northern forms bausia and baosia follow in the 13th century, in Uguccione da Lodi and Paolo Zoppo, and bugia is in Brunetto Latini and the Novellino.[1] The sense is a false statement made to deceive.[5]

Semantic evolution

Bono Giamboni repeated Saint Augustine's definition: “a lie, according to Saint Augustine, is speaking with a false voice with the intention of deceiving” (Bugia, secondo Santo Agostino, si è parlare di falsa boce, con intenzione d'ingannare).[11] In Old Italian bugia also meant slander and false doctrine, and senza bugia meant “truly”.[5]

Bugia pietosa, a white lie told to spare someone pain, became common through Verdi's La Traviata of 1853, where the doctor is allowed one.[1] By 1876 the word also named the white spots on the fingernails, which children are told come from the lies they tell.[9][7] In Piedmont bugie are the fried carnival pastries known elsewhere as chiacchiere.[7][12][4]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Proverbia que dicuntur has the word.[5]
  • 13th century – Bausia and baosia appear in Uguccione da Lodi and Paolo Zoppo.[1]
  • 13th century – Patecchio uses bogiadro “liar”.[1]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses bugia.[1][3]
  • 1853 – La Traviata popularises bugia pietosa.[1]
  • 1876 – The sense “white spot on a fingernail” is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A lie, a statement known to be untrue, usually made to deceive: Non dirmi bugie, so tutto.[3][7][13]
  2. (colloquial) A small white spot on a fingernail.[3][7][13]
  3. (botany) The dandelion.[3][7]
  4. (regional, Piedmont; usually plural) A carnival pastry of fried dough dusted with sugar.[3][7][4]

Word family

  • bugiardo
  • bugiare
  • bugiarderia
  • bugiardaggine
  • sbugiardare

bugia2 candleholder

Pronunciation

  • /buˈd͡ʒi.a/[4]

Forms

bugia f (plural bugie)[4]

Etymology

The candleholder is borrowed from French bougie (“candle”), recorded in that sense from 1493.[1][3][7] The French word first named, from 1300, the fine wax imported from Bougie, the Algerian port now called Béjaïa, and then the candles made of it.[1][2][14] The same French word is the source of Spanish bujía (1472) and the Portuguese and Catalan forms.[14]

The shift from candle to candleholder, which French calls bougeoir, took place in Italian.[1] DELI finds it too recent to support Pellegrini's idea of an early loan straight from the Arabic name of the town.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI, GRADIT and Zingarelli date the word to 1622, in Benedetto Buommattei, who lists four priests holding the book, the candleholder, the crozier and the mitre.[1][3][12][11] Nocentini gives 1570.[2]

Semantic evolution

Redi tested the burning of wax at the candle of his bugia in the 17th century.[11] The word was Tuscan: Fanfani recorded it in 1863, and it was still in use in the countryside and the churches of Florence in the 1940s.[1] Tommaseo also describes it as a lamp in a small oblong box, easy to carry about.[15] Medicine uses it for a thin rod used to explore or widen the urethra, French bougie.[3]

Timeline

  • 1300 – French bougie names the wax from Bougie.[1]
  • 1493 – French bougie means “candle”.[1]
  • 1622 – Buommattei uses bugia for a candleholder.[1][3]
  • 1863 – Fanfani records the word as Tuscan.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A low candleholder with a small dish and a handle: Prese la bugia e salì in camera.[3][7][13]
  2. A small portable oil lamp.[7][12]
  3. (medicine) A bougie, a thin rod for exploring or widening the urethra.[3]
  • menzogna
  • Old Occitan bauzia
  • French bougie

Usage notes

The proverb le bugie hanno le gambe corte “lies have short legs” means that lies are soon found out.[7][12][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  2. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  6. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 643
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
  9. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 189
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 629
  15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli