canuto

Forms

canuto (feminine canuta, masculine plural canuti, feminine plural canute)^[1] Northern forms are Old Italian canudo, Old Italian canuo and Old Italian canù.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cānūtus (“grey, hoary”), from cānus (“white, grey (of hair)”).^[4][1][5][6] The Latin adjective was formed on the model of cornūtus (“horned”).^[7][8] Its attestation in Plautus is uncertain, and it is recorded in the glosses.^[9][7][1] DELI and GDLI treat the Italian word as learned, but it is panromance: Romanian cărunt, French chenu, Occitan canut, Catalan canut, Spanish canudo (Old Spanish), Sardinian kanudu and Romansh chanü.^{[10][11][4][3][12]}

cānus comes from Proto-Italic *kasno- (“grey”), as Oscan casnar (“old man”) shows (Paelignian in de Vaan). The Proto-Italic stem goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₁s-no-.^[9][4] The same root gave the word for the hare in other languages, as Sanskrit शश (śaśá) and Old High German haso.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum, of the last quarter of the 12th century.^[2][3] DELI dates the sense “white-haired, old” to Uguccione da Lodi at the start of the 13th century, and “white”, of hair or beard, to Bono Giamboni before 1292: una grande barba canuta.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

From white hair the word passed to the old person who has it, and as a noun canuto meant an old man.^[2] Petrarch used it of thought: penser canuti in giovenile etate, wise thoughts at a young age.^[5][6] Also in Old Italian it described other white things: a mountain covered in snow, an animal with grey fur.^[2]

Later poets kept these senses.^[13][6] Tasso speaks of the alpi canute in winter, and the sea's foam is canuta in Panzini.^[13][6] The word has become literary: Tommaseo noted that it suits white hair rather than eyebrows or a few white hairs.^[14][15]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur has the first record.^[2][3]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses canuo of an old man.^[10][3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni writes of a barba canuta.^[10][11]
• 14th century – Canutezza and incanutire are recorded.^[7][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. white, grey, of hair, beard or moustache.^[5][14][13]
2. white-haired, hoary.^[5][14] By extension, old: un nonno canuto.^[5][14][13]
3. (figurative, literary) Wise, sensible, as in old age: l'età canuta, old age.^[5][13][16]
4. (literary) White with snow or foam: monti canuti, onde canute.^[5][14][6]

Word family

• incanutire
• semicanuto
• canutezza
• canutaggine

Related words

• canizie
• cano
• Latin cānus
• French chenu

Usage notes

The given name Canuto (Canute) is a separate word, from Medieval Latin Canutus, from Old Norse Knútr.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 1564
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 729
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse