carbone

Forms

carbone m (plural carboni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carbō (“piece of charcoal”), from the accusative ⟨carbōnem⟩.^[2][3][4][1] Latin also had the derivatives carbōnāria, a woman who sold charcoal and then a charcoal kiln, and carbōnārius (“charcoal-burner”), the sources of carbonaia and carbonaio.^[2][3][5]

The word survives in all the Romance languages:^[6] Romanian cărbune, Romansh cravun, French charbon, Occitan carbó, Catalan carbó, Spanish carbón and Portuguese carvão.^[3][7][8] The LEI dates the French word from about 1150, the Old Occitan from about 1120 and the Catalan from 1252.^[8]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[2][5] Nocentini compares words from a PIE root Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to burn”), such as Latin cremō (“to burn up”), Old High German herd (“hearth”) and Lithuanian kùrti (“to heat”).^[3][1] De Vaan objects that this root is no longer accepted as a verb, that the Lithuanian verb only means “to make”, and that the suffix is not found in the words usually compared outside Italic, such as Old Norse hyrr (“fire”); he allows a pre-syncope form ⟨*kar(a)bʰō⟩ or ⟨*kar(a)dʰō⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine register of the convent of the Santissima Annunziata, of 1288, in the sense of charcoal, the black solid left by heating wood without air.^[2] Isidore of Seville had distinguished the burning coal (pruna) from the extinguished one, which alone was called carbo.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Until the early Middle Ages only charcoal made in kilns was known.^[6] Medieval writers used the word for fuel and embers: Passavanti tells of a charcoal-burner watching his lit pit by night, and Boccaccio of a hound “black as coal” (nera come carbone).^[9] From the colour and the burning came the old senses of a pustule or boil (14th century), a ruby, and later the smut of wheat (1759).^[2][10][11]

Mined coal became carbon fossile.^[12][13] Carbone bianco, water power, is a calque of French houille blanche, a phrase apparently created by A. Bergès in 1899.^[2] Carbonaro, with the non-Tuscan ending -aro for -aio, probably came from the south; the members of the secret Carboneria of the early 19th century used the technical words of charcoal-burners in their jargon.^[2] Spaghetti alla carbonara is recorded from 1950;^[3] Gomez Gane connected the name with a polenta dish of similar dressing associated with charcoal-burners.^[3]

Timeline

• 1280–1297 – Carbonaia, a charcoal stack, is recorded in the statutes of Montagutolo.^[2]
• 1288 – Carbone is recorded in a Florentine convent register.^[2]
• About 1321 – Dante uses carbone.^[14]
• 14th century – Carbone is used for a pustule.^[2]
• 1354 – Passavanti uses carbonaio, a charcoal-burner.^[2]
• 1663 – Carbonella, small charcoal, is recorded.^[2]
• 1759 – F. Ginanni uses carbone for the smut of wheat.^[2]
• 1816 – Carbonaro is recorded for a member of the Carboneria.^[2]
• 1843 – Carbonifero “coal-bearing” is recorded.^[2]
• 1899 – French houille blanche, the model of carbone bianco, is coined.^[2]
• 1950 – Alla carbonara is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. coal, charcoal: a black solid fuel made largely of carbon, formed naturally from plant remains or made by heating organic matter without air: carbone di legna, carbon fossile.^[4][15][12]
2. A burning piece of coal, an ember;^[12][10][13] essere sui carboni ardenti, to be on tenterhooks.^[12][10][13]
3. A charcoal crayon for drawing.^[10]
4. Each of the two carbon electrodes of an arc lamp.^[10]
5. (agriculture) smut, a fungal disease of cereals that forms black masses on the plant.^[4][16][10]
6. (archaic) A pustule or boil.^[4][10][16]
7. (archaic) A ruby.^[10]

Adjective

1. (invariable) Coal-black: una giacca color carbone.^[10]

Word family

• carbonaia
• carbonaio
• carbonaro
• carboneria
• carboncino
• carbonella
• carboncello
• carboniera
• carbonifero
• carboniero
• carbonara

Related words

• carbo-
• carboniccio
• carbonio
• Latin carbo
• French charbon

Usage notes

Nero come il carbone means very black or very dirty, and un'anima nera come il carbone a wicked soul.^[4][16]

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 k l m n o p 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 f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 1418
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 1419
15. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana