ciliegio

Forms

ciliegio m (plural ciliegi)^[1] The old Tuscan form is Old Italian ciriegio.^[2][3] The TLIO also records ceresgio.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin ceresium (“cherry”), a rustic variant of classical cerasium or cerasus (“cherry tree”), which is from Ancient Greek κεράσιον (kerásion), from κερασός (kerasós).^{[2][5][6][7][8]} DELI and GRADIT star the Late Latin form, but the LEI cites the form from Anthimus at the start of the 6th century.^[2][6][9] The Greek word is of uncertain origin.^[2][1] Wiktionary considers an Anatolian source possible.^[1]

The first Italian form was Old Italian ciriegio, which took its present form in Florence: Castellani, quoted in DELI, explains the change of ciriegia to ciliegia between the 16th and 17th centuries by the awkwardness of the diphthong /jɛ/ after /r/, so that /r/ was replaced by /l/.^[2][10] Nocentini notes two Latin types in Italian dialects, a central-southern Vulgar Latin *cerasea and a northern *ceresea, both present in Tuscany, where the northern one prevailed.^[5] The fruit names French cerise, Occitan ceirieiza, Spanish cereza, Portuguese cereja and Romanian cireașă continue the same Latin forms.^[5][9]

The cherry was brought to Italy from Pontus in the 1st century BC, which is why the name is thought to come from a language of Asia Minor; but wild cherries already grew in Greece and Italy.^[5] Isidore tied the Latin name to the city of Cerasus in Pontus, from which Lucullus brought the tree.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in a Florentine document of 1257, which names a plot of land with figs, olives and cherry trees (ciriegi).^[4][5] DELI's first record of ciriegio is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Early texts name the tree among the plants of orchards and fields: a Prato document of 1305 complains of people cutting down ciriegi, and Zucchero Bencivenni (1310) praises the honey of bees fed on cherry, plum and peach blossom.^[4] The Florentine form ciliegio is first recorded in 1694, in Baldovini.^[2] From the 17th century this Florentine form was the one taken into the literary language.^[2] The sense “cherry wood” is recorded from 1875, in Collodi; the reddish wood is used for pipes, umbrella handles and cabinet-making.^[2][7]

In botany the name covers several cultivated plants of the genus Prunus, chiefly the sweet cherry and the sour cherry, and many phrases name other species, such as ciliegio di montagna.^[6][8][3]

Timeline

• 1257 – A Florentine document names ciriegi.^[4]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses ciriegio.^[2]
• 1694 – Baldovini uses the Florentine form ciliegio.^[2]
• 1875 – Collodi uses the word for cherry wood.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The cherry tree (Prunus avium), with white flowers and fleshy stone fruits, the cherries; also the common name of other Prunus species and varieties.^[6][3][7][1]
2. The wood of this tree.^[6][3][7]

Word family

• ciliegeto

Related words

• ciliegia
• ceraso
• Latin cerasus
• French cerise

Usage notes

Ciliegio di montagna is the dwarf cherry, also called cameceraso.^[3][7]

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 e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 1004
10. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca