caprifoglio

Forms

caprifoglio m (plural caprifogli)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin caprifolium (“honeysuckle”), literally “goats' leaf”, a compound of caper (“he-goat”) and folium (“leaf”).^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini takes the first part from capra (“she-goat”) and the name as one for a wild plant.^[5] Devoto–Oli explains it by the goats' liking for the plant.^[5][6]

The LEI notes that the Latin word is rare in technical writing, and that it is one of several plant names based on the goat, like Ancient Greek αἰγίνη (aigínē).^[7] It seems first to have meant the privet, and only the glossary of Tours (12th century) clearly uses it for honeysuckle.^[7] It lives on by popular descent in French, Occitan and Ibero-Romance and in learned or semi-learned forms elsewhere, Italian among them.^[7] The popular forms include Old French chievrefueil (about 1180), French chèvrefeuille and Old Occitan cabrefoil (1272), and Romanian caprifoi is also learned.^[7][5][8]

De Vaan suspects that the Latin word for a he-goat is a loanword, since no PIE word for goat can be reconstructed.^[9] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *kápros (“buck, he-goat”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the 14th-century Tuscan translation of the Thesaurus pauperum of Pietro Ispano, for the climbing shrub: Sugo di caprifoglio, messo negli occhi, giova molto a ogni malattia degli occhi (honeysuckle juice, put in the eyes, does much good for every eye disease).^[2][10][11]

Semantic evolution

Local forms appear early, such as Perugian cavrivoglie about 1400.^[7] The LEI dates the standard caprifoglio for the honeysuckle from 1567.^[7] Mattioli noted that the plant was called matriselva, vincibosco or caprifoglio.^[11] The dialects have their own forms, such as Ligurian caprifœgiu, Romagnol caprifój and Sicilian caprifuogghiu.^[7][12]

Botanists named the family Caprifogliacee after the plant in 1830.^[2] Pascoli and D'Annunzio used the flowering climber in descriptions of gardens and woods.^[11]

Timeline

• About 1180 – Old French chievrefueil in Marie de France.^[7]
• 1272 – Old Occitan cabrefoil in Flamenca.^[7]
• 14th century – First Italian record, in Pietro Ispano translated.^[2][10]
• About 1400 – Perugian cavrivoglie.^[7]
• 1567 – Caprifoglio for honeysuckle in Bevilacqua.^[7]
• 1830 – The family name caprifogliacee is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. honeysuckle (Lonicera caprifolium), a climbing shrub with opposite leaves and very fragrant tubular flowers, white to pink.^{[3][6][4][13][14]}
2. (botany) Any of various species of the genus Lonicera.^[6][14]

Word family

• caprifogliacea

Related words

• capra
• capro
• foglia
• Late Latin caprifolium
• French chèvrefeuille

Usage notes

Popular synonyms are madreselva, abbracciabosco and vincibosco.^[4][13][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 674
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
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, p. 2, 730
12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 745
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli