Etymologically
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droga

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈdrɔ.ɡa/[1]

Forms

droga f (plural droghe)[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[2][3][4] The usual explanation is a word for “dry”: For Nocentini it is borrowed from Middle French drogue, from Middle Low German drōge (“dry”) in a phrase meaning “dry barrels”, so that the property of the casks passed to the goods packed in them.[5][6][7] Wiktionary starts from Middle Dutch drôge (“dry”),[1] and Devoto and Treccani from Dutch droog (“dry”).[8][9] DELI accepts the Dutch source but finds neither the change of meaning nor the route into Italian clear: the noun probably came through Spanish droga (late 15th century), while the derivatives may have come from French.[2] GRADIT also thinks of Spanish, and Prati takes the Italian word from Spanish or Portuguese and those from French, which has the word from the 14th century.[10][11] DEI reports another view, which derives the word through Spain from Arabic.[6]

French was the centre from which it spread to Spanish droga, German Droge and English drug.[5] Tommaseo mentions a derivation from a Persian word for “fraud” but does not accept it.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Marino Sanudo's diaries, in 1502 at Venice, for an aromatic vegetable substance used to season food, that is a spice.[2][10] Filippo Sassetti, in the 16th century, writes of merchants' money spent on cloves “e l'altre droghe” (and the other spices).[4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 19th century the word meant spices and other goods from the Levant and the East Indies, and the Florentine pharmacists' Ricettario used it for the raw materials of medicines.[12][6] Drogheria meant “spices” before 1562 and “grocer's shop” from 1681, and droghiere, the grocer, is in Francesco Redi (1681–1682) and in Venetian from 1660.[2]

The sense “narcotic substance” is first found in Carlo Botta in 1834, and DEI places its spread in the 20th century.[2][6] Then came drogato “drug addict” (1958) and drogaggio “doping” (1963).[2] Modern Italian distinguishes droghe leggere (soft drugs) from droghe pesanti (hard drugs), and the word is used figuratively for any habit one cannot give up.[10][13][9]

Timeline

  • 1502 – First record, in Marino Sanudo's diaries.[2][10]
  • Before 1562 – Drogaria “spices” in Pietro Fortini.[2]
  • 1660 – Venetian droghier “grocer”.[2]
  • 1681 – Drogheria “grocer's shop” in Filippo Baldinucci.[2]
  • 1834 – Carlo Botta uses droga for a narcotic.[2]
  • 1869 – Drogare “to season with spices” in Tommaseo–Bellini.[2]
  • 1958 – Drogato “drug addict”.[2]
  • 1963 – Drogaggio “doping”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chiefly plural) A spice, a dried vegetable substance such as pepper or cinnamon used to flavour food.[10][14][3][13]
  2. (pharmacology) A natural product containing one or more active substances with a medicinal effect.[10][14][3]
  3. A drug, a natural or synthetic substance with narcotic, stimulating or hallucinogenic effects; also, drugs collectively: La polizia ha sequestrato due chili di droga al porto.[10][14][3][13]
  4. A stimulant taken to improve the performance of an athlete or a horse.[14]
  5. (figurative) A habit or passion one cannot do without: Per mio fratello il calcio è una droga.[10][14][3][13]

Word family

  • drogare
  • drogato
  • drogheria
  • droghiere
  • drogaggio
  • droghista
  • antidroga

Usage notes

A separate droga of the dialects of Lombardy, around Brescia, names burdock and coltsfoot;[6][15] DEI and Cortelazzo–Marcato trace it to a pre-Latin *dravoca, which glosses attribute to the Gauls.[6][15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 1010
  5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1394
  7. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 393
  12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET