giovenco

Forms

giovenco m (plural giovenchi, feminine giovenca)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian giuvenco, Old Italian iuvenco and the northern Old Italian çovenco.^[2][3][4] The feminine is giovenca, a young cow.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iuvencus (“young bull, bullock”), from the same stem as iuvenis (“young”) and iuventūs (“youth”).^[3][5][6][1] In Latin it was first an adjective, “young”, said of animals; as a noun its sense was narrowed in the language of farmers to a young bovine.^[3][5][7]

The word lives on in Romanian junc.^[5][8] DEI finds it only here and there in the western Romance area, but still alive in Tuscany and the south of Italy; in France it was replaced by diminutives such as French jouvenceau, from iuvencellus.^[9]

The Latin word is formed with a suffix on the same stem, from Proto-Italic *juwenkos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁n̥ḱós (“young one, young animal”).^[10][1] Related forms are Old Irish óac and Welsh ieuanc (youth), Old High German jung and Old Norse ungr (young).^[10] The ⟨-enc-⟩ of the Latin word is unexpected, as ⟨-inc-⟩ would be regular: de Vaan explains it as a Sabellic form or as influence from the Latin words for “young” and “youth”.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document from Città di Castello of 1261–1272, with the sense “young bovine”.^[2] DELI's first record is giuvenco in A. Simintendi before 1333, in a passage on young bulls weighed down by the yoke: “e’ giuvenchi gravati dal giogo piansoro”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word appears as iuvenco in Guido da Pisa, for animals offered in sacrifice, and as giovenco in the Italian Bible and in Crescenzi, who counts four ages of cattle: calves, giovenchi, young oxen and old oxen.^[3][4][11] Boccaccio compares a man to a hungry lion falling on a herd of giovenchi.^[4][11]

In poetry the word stayed in use, as in Carducci's “De' bei giovenchi dal quadrato petto” (of the fine bullocks with square chests).^[12][13] In literary use it can also mean a young and vigorous man.^[6][14] In the dialects of southern Italy it survives as jencu.^[9]

Timeline

• 1261–1272 – The word appears in a document from Città di Castello.^[2]
• Before 1333 – A. Simintendi writes giuvenco.^[3][4]
• 14th century – Guido da Pisa writes iuvenco; the Italian Bible and Crescenzi have giovenco.^[3]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses the feminine giovenca.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bullock, a young ox that has just passed its first year: Il contadino ha venduto due giovenchi alla fiera.^{[6][15][12][1]}
2. (literary, figurative) A young and vigorous man.^[6][14]

Word family

• giovenca

Related words

• giovane
• Latin iuvenis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 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 d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1814
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli