ghianda

Forms

ghianda f (plural ghiande)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin glāns (“acorn”), moved into the first declension as Vulgar Latin *glanda.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance feminine ⟨*/ˈɡland-e/⟩, continued in every branch but Dalmatian, beside two remodelled types, ⟨*/ˈɡland-a/⟩, to which the Italian word belongs, and ⟨*/ˈɡlandin-e/⟩.^[6]

The word is pan-Romance: French gland, Occitan glan, Sardinian lande, Portuguese lande, Spanish lande (now disused) and Romanian ghindă.^[3][7] The Romance words took the feminine gender of fruit names; in Gallo-Romance the word was feminine at first and later became masculine.^[3] In the south the article has fused with the noun, as in Sicilian agghianna.^[5][7]

glāns goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷelh₂- (“acorn”), also the source of Ancient Greek βάλανος (bálanos, “acorn”) and Lithuanian gìlė (“acorn”).^[1][3][8] Latin glāns is also behind ghiandola and the learned glande.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine document of 1289, for the fruit of the oak, the staple feed of pigs.^[9] DELI's first example is from Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian writers made the acorn the food of men in the golden age, and so a symbol of primitive poverty, and used it figuratively for something worthless; the word could also name the oak itself.^[9] Things shaped like an acorn took the name too: the lead bullet of the Roman slingers (before 1347, Bartolomeo da San Concordio), the glans of the penis (Old Italian, and in 1587), and the oval ornaments sewn on clothes, a fashion of the 15th century that Milizia describes before 1798.^[2][9][5]

Later uses include the tassels at the end of curtain fringes, the core of frog buttons, small balls holding slips drawn by lot, a vessel for a scented sponge and, in electronics, a kind of valve.^[10][11][4] At Pisa the masculine ghiando names the oak.^[5]

Timeline

• 1289 – A Florentine document has the first record.^[9]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses ghianda.^[2]
• Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses it for the sling bullet.^[2]
• 1400s – Acorn-shaped ornaments for clothes are called ghiande.^[5]
• 1587 – F. Baldelli uses it for the glans of the penis.^[2]
• Before 1798 – Milizia describes ghiande as oval ornaments on garments.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) acorn: the dry fruit of the oak, held at its base in a cup, used as feed for pigs and sometimes roasted as a coffee substitute.^[4][10][11]
2. An oval bead of wood or metal covered with thread or cloth, hanging as an ornament from curtain fringes, hats or clothes; a tassel: le tende del salotto finivano in ghiande dorate.^{[4][10][12][11]}
3. (tailoring) The core of a frog button.^[4][10][11]
4. (history) A lead sling bullet of the Roman slingers.^[10][12][13]
5. (dated) A small oval ball holding a slip with a name or number, drawn by lot; also a small silver or ivory vessel for a scented sponge.^[10][13][14]
6. (electronics) A small thermionic valve shaped like an acorn.^[10][4]
7. (archaic) The glande of the penis.^[12][14][15]

Word family

• ghiandaia
• ghiandaio
• ghianderino
• ghiandone
• ghiandoso
• inghiandato

Related words

• ghiandola
• glande
• Latin glans
• French gland

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1798
6. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli