gemma

Forms

gemma f (plural gemme)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian gema, Old Italian zema and Old Italian çemma.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gemma (“bud; precious stone”), which had both senses in Latin: the bud or “eye” of the vine came first, and the gem was named after it for the likeness of shape and colour.^[3][4][5][6] The ancients, from Cicero on, believed the opposite.^[5] DEI treats the two senses separately: the bud as the popular word, with dialect outcomes in Piedmont, Lombardy and Calabria now largely displaced by bottone, and the gem as semi-learned, perhaps shaped by Old French gemme.^[7] The same Latin word is jamme (modern French gemme is learned), Occitan gema, Catalan gema, Spanish yema (“bud; yolk”) and Portuguese gema.^[4][8]

The origin of Latin gemma is uncertain.^[6][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *gebmā- (“bud, sprout”) and Proto-Indo-European *ǵeb-m-, comparing Lithuanian žémbėti (“to germinate, sprout”) and an Old Church Slavonic verb of the same meaning.^[6] Nocentini starts from a root *gembh- (“to germinate”),^[4] while Wiktionary thinks a source in a non-Indo-European substrate likely.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Guido Faba, at Bologna, about 1243.^[2] DELI's first example, for a precious stone, is in Brunetto Latini before 1294: “precious stones and noble gems of very great worth, for power and for colour” (le pietre preziose / e gemme dignitose / di troppo gran valore / per forza e per colore).^[3][5] The botanical sense, a closed bud from which shoots, flowers and leaves grow, is recorded before 1342 in Domenico Cavalca.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian gemma was also a stone set in a ring, worldly riches seen as vain, and the image of a person of great worth.^[2] Dante used it for a star (1313–1319), di gemme la sua fronte era lucente “her brow was shining with gems”, and for anything that shines with beauty or artistic value;^[3][9][10] Pia de' Tolomei recalls the man “who had first ringed me, wedding me with his gem” (colui che 'nnanellata pria / disposando m'avea con la sua gemma).^[3][9][10] A person full of virtue is called a gemma from 1869.^[3]

The verb gemmare “to put out buds” is recorded about 1350.^[3] In biology gemmazione named the putting out of buds (1869) and then asexual reproduction by budding (1892), and gemma the first outline of the new individual.^[3][9] Gemmologia, the study of gemstones, appears in 1956.^[3] German Gemme “cameo” is recorded from 1768,^[11] and the given name Gemma has passed into English and Catalan.^[1]

Timeline

• About 1243 – Guido Faba uses the word at Bologna.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses gemma for a precious stone.^[3]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for a star.^[3]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for a bud.^[3]
• About 1350 – Gemmare “to bud” appears in the Italian version of Crescenzi.^[3]
• 1768 – German Gemme “cameo” is recorded.^[11]
• 1869 – Tommaseo–Bellini records gemma for a virtuous person.^[3]
• 1892 – Gemmazione is recorded for reproduction by budding.^[3]
• 1956 – Gemmologia is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A bud, the embryonic shoot from which new leaves, flowers or branches develop: le gemme del melo si aprono ad aprile.^[9][12][10]
2. (biology) In reproduction by budding, the first outline of a new individual.^[9][12][13]
3. A gem, a precious stone, especially a cut one: un diadema ornato di gemme.^[9][10][14]
4. (literary) A ring; a star.^[9][10][14]
5. (figurative) A rare and precious thing; a person of rare qualities: una gemma del cinema muto.^[9][10][13]
6. (astronomy) Gemma, the brightest star of the Corona Borealis.^[14][7]

Word family

• gemmare
• gemmazione
• gemmeo
• gemmologia
• gemmifero
• gemmula
• ingemmare
• gemmario

Related words

• salgemma
• Latin gemma
• French gemme

Usage notes

Botanical phrases include gemma apicale or terminale, at the tip of the stem, gemma ascellare, in the axil of a leaf, and gemma dormiente, a bud that delays its growth;^[12][13][9] gemma gustativa is a taste bud.^[12][13][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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. 6, 642
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1781
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli