carbonchio

Forms

carbonchio m (plural carbonchi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carbunculus (“little coal; carbuncle (gem); pustule”), a diminutive of carbō (“charcoal, coal”), the source of carbone.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word, literally “little coal”, named a precious stone because it shines like a burning coal, and a disease because its blisters look like burns.^[2][3] Both senses copy those of Ancient Greek ἄνθραξ (ánthrax, “coal; carbuncle”), so the Latin noun is a semantic calque of the Greek one.^[5][6][7] Latin also used the simple noun for charcoal for the disease, on the same Greek model.^[3] Sabatini–Coletti calls it the popular word beside the learned carbuncolo.^[8]

The same Latin word continued in Old French carbuncle (about 1148) and escarbuncle, whose first syllable was influenced by esmeraude (“emerald”), in Old Occitan carboncle, Catalan carboncle, Old Spanish carboncla and Sardinian karbúnkulu.^[5][9] Through medieval texts it gave German Karfunkel.^[3][5] For the disease the French word is charbon (“coal”), and Spanish carbunco is a learned form.^[3]

The origin of the Latin noun for charcoal is uncertain.^[10] De Vaan notes that the words usually compared, such as Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌹 (hauri, “charcoal”) and Old Norse hyrr (“fire”), lack its suffix, so an Indo-European source is not proven.^[10] Wiktionary connects it doubtfully with Proto-Indo-European *kerh₃- (“heat, fire”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a sonnet by Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, where the word names a glowing red gem, the ruby: l’amatisto, né lo carbonchio fino, / lo quale è molto risprendente cosa (“nor the amethyst, nor the fine carbuncle, which is a most shining thing”).^[2][11][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the gem was the main sense, and the TLIO also records the word for a pustule or swelling of the skin.^[11] Cecco d'Ascoli wrote that the carbonchio shines in the dark and dies in fire like a coal, and Pulci gave a figure a carbonchio on the head that turned every dark night into day.^[12] The infectious disease of grazing animals, which also passes to humans, is recorded before 1304 in a translation of Plutarch, and the derivative carboncello “pustule” appears in Iacopone before 1306.^[2] From 1542 the word also names a fungal disease of wheat.^[2]

The dialects keep the word in many forms: Neapolitan carvonchio (before 1632), Sicilian carbùnchiu, and forms with s- such as scarbonchio “ruby” from the 14th century.^[5] Today the gem sense is obsolete, and the word is used mainly in veterinary medicine and agriculture.^[4][8][13]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses carbonchio for the ruby.^[2][11]
• Before 1304 – The disease sense appears in a translation of Plutarch.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses carboncello for the pustule of the disease.^[2]
• About 1350 – Carbonchioso “affected by anthrax” appears in the translation of Crescenzi.^[2]
• Before 1483 – Pulci uses the word for the gem.^[5]
• 1542 – The sense “fungal disease of wheat” is first recorded.^[2]
• 1546 – Aretino uses scarbonchiare “to trim a lamp wick”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (veterinary, medicine) anthrax: a serious infectious disease of cattle, sheep and horses that can pass to humans, with blackish, blood-filled pustules on the skin.^{[4][7][8][14]}
2. (agriculture) smut: a fungal disease of wheat and other cereals that turns the ear into a black powder; also called carbone.^{[8][13][15][7][1]}
3. (obsolete) A boil or pustule.^[4][13][16]
4. (obsolete, literary) A ruby or garnet; the same as carbuncolo.^{[4][8][7][14]}

Word family

• carboncello
• carbonchioso
• anticarbonchioso
• scarbonchiare

Related words

• carbone
• carbuncolo
• antrace
• Latin carbunculus
• German Karfunkel

Usage notes

GRADIT lists the medical phrases carbonchio cutaneo and carbonchio polmonare (cutaneous and pulmonary anthrax) and mosca del carbonchio, the fly that spreads it.^[4] Zingarelli gives the stress as carbónchio, with an open vowel as a variant.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
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. 11, 1473
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 744
13. ^ a b c d 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
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana