buio

Forms

buio (feminine buia, masculine plural bui, feminine plural buie)^[1] Old Italian also had buro, and the TLIO records bubbio, bur and buyo among other forms.^[2][3][4] Corsican has (b)ùghiu “brown”.^[2][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *būrius (“dark red, dark-coloured”), derived from Latin burrus (“red”).^[2][6][7][1] The Vulgar Latin form is not recorded; the LEI, following Meyer-Lübke and Wartburg, accepts it as a regional Latin word because of Old French buire in “chape buire”, a dark brown cloak (13th century), and the Italo-Romance forms.^[5][8][9] Old Italian buro and Corsican bùghiu (“brown”) keep the original colour sense.^[2][3]

The relation between *būrius and burrus is not fully explained: DEI notes that the long vowel is unclear and mentions the possibility of a comparative form “burrius”.^[9][5] Latin burrus is an old popular loan from Ancient Greek πυρρός (purrhós, “flame-coloured”), derived from πῦρ (pûr, “fire”).^[9][10][1] Devoto thought instead of a crossing of burrus with Latin boreus (“northern”).^[11] Wiktionary also mentions a less likely derivation from Latin furvus (“dark, dusky”).^[1]

The Tuscan outcome of ⟨-uriu⟩ as ⟨-uio⟩ is regular, as in burella.^[11][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Bono Giamboni's Florentine translation of Orosius (before 1292), in the sense “without light, dark”.^[3] DELI dates the adjective to Dante's Inferno (1300–1313) and the noun “darkness” to the Purgatorio and Paradiso (1313–1319).^[2][7] Dante's “buio d'inferno e di notte privata / d'ogni pianeta” (“darkness of hell and of a night bereft of every planet”) opens the sixteenth canto of the Purgatorio.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The old colour sense “dark-coloured” lasted for a long time: Pegolotti (c. 1347) speaks of panni bui, dark cloths, and Berni and Varchi use the adjective of cloth and paintings in the 16th century.^[5] In the slang of Treviso in 1545 buio meant “black” and buoso “wine”.^[5]

The word was felt to be colloquial: in 1536 Aretino counted it among the words of everyday Tuscan, and in 1559 Ruscelli called it a popular word, very Tuscan but not suited to graceful verse.^[2] The figurative sense “frowning, gloomy” is dated to Giovanni Prati in 1844.^[2] Modern Italian also uses the adjective for times of decline (secoli bui) and uncertain prospects, and the noun for ignorance and mystery; in poker, aprire al buio is to open before looking at one's cards.^{[7][13][14][4]}

The diminutive burella (early 14th century), a dark dungeon in Dante, and rabbuiarsi “to grow dark” (14th century) were formed early.^[6][8] Buiore “darkness”, used by Dante, still lives in Tuscany.^[9]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses buio.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the adjective in the Inferno.^[2]
• Early 14th century – Burella “dark place” is recorded.^[6]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses buio as a noun, “darkness”.^[2]
• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino has the form buro.^[2]
• c. 1347 – Pegolotti speaks of panni bui, dark cloths.^[5]
• 1559 – Ruscelli calls buio a popular word.^[2]
• 1844 – Giovanni Prati uses it for “frowning, gloomy”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dark, without light: Il corridoio era buio e stretto. Of the sky or weather: heavily overcast.^[7][13][15]
2. (figurative) Uncertain, threatening: Per l'azienda si annunciano mesi bui. Of a period: marked by decline and ignorance.^[7][13][15]
3. (figurative) gloomy, frowning, worried: Quando entrò era buio in volto.^[7][13][14]
4. (figurative, uncommon) Obscure, hard to understand.^[7][13][15]
5. (uncommon) Of a dark colour.^[7][15]

Noun

1. darkness, absence of light: I bambini hanno paura del buio.^[7][13][15]
2. Nightfall, night: Vorrei arrivare prima del buio.^[7][13][14]
3. (figurative) Ignorance of something; mystery: Su quella vicenda c'è ancora molto buio.^[7][13][15]
4. (poker) A blind bet, made before seeing one's cards.^[4][14][16]

Word family

• burella
• rabbuiarsi
• abbuiare
• buiore
• semibuio

Related words

• oscuro
• birro
• Latin burrus

Usage notes

Set phrases include buio pesto “pitch dark”, al buio “in the dark”, tenere qualcuno al buio “to keep someone in the dark”, salto nel buio “leap in the dark” and appuntamento al buio “blind date”.^[7][13][4] The proverb al buio tutti i gatti sono bigi says that in some situations no distinctions can be made.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 8, 199
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 f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 631
10. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 8, 259
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 436
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli