giunco

Forms

giunco m (plural giunchi)^[1] Old forms include gionco, Old Italian giuncho, Old Italian ionco and northern Old Italian çunco.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iuncus (“rush”), recorded in Latin from Plautus.^[3][4][5][1] The same word is French jonc, Occitan jonc, Catalan jonc and Spanish junco.^[4][6]

The Latin noun has no sure connections.^[3][4][7] De Vaan, following Walde and Hofmann, derives it from Proto-Italic *joiniko-, a stem with the common suffix -ko- that later lost its middle vowel, and compares Middle Irish aín (“reeds, rushes”) and Old Norse einir (“juniper”); the stem looks non-Indo-European to him.^[8][1] Matasović takes the group, found only in the western languages, as a loan from a substrate.^[1] DEI proposed instead an earlier *joncos, a Mediterranean counterpart of Ancient Greek σόγχος (sónkhos, “sow-thistle”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine translation of Brunetto Latini's Tesoro, from the end of the 13th century, for the marsh plant with a light, supple stem.^[2][4] DELI's first record is Dante's Purgatorio (1313–1319), with gionco in Cenne de la Chitarra at about the same time.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Purgatorio Cato tells Virgil to gird Dante with a plain rush (d’un giunco schietto), the only plant that can grow on the shore of the island because it bends to the waves; the commentators read it as a symbol of humility.^[10][11] Old Italian used the stems for mats to sleep on, shades and baskets, and for packing goods.^[2] In the 14th century the Latin of Pietro de' Crescenzi glossed papirus as what “we call iuncus”.^[3]

Its slenderness made the plant a byword: sottile come un giunco is said of a thin person, and tremare come un giunco of someone shaking with cold or fear.^[5][12] The name of the botanical family, giuncacee, is recorded from 1869.^[3] The word was borrowed as Albanian xunkth.^[1]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Florentine translation of the Tesoro gives the TLIO's first record.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses giunco in the Purgatorio.^[3][5]
• 14th century – Pietro de' Crescenzi's Latin equates papirus with iuncus.^[3]
• 1869 – Giuncacee is recorded in Tommaseo–Bellini.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rush: a herbaceous plant of wet and marshy ground whose light, supple stems are used for weaving; the genus Juncus.^[5][13][14]
2. A name of other marsh plants used for mats and baskets, especially of the genera Scirpus and Schoenus.^[5][15][11]
3. The dried stems as a material: un cestino di giunco (a rush basket).^[5][14]
4. (figurative) A slender, supple person: Sua figlia è un giunco.^[15][16]
5. (sport, dated) A thin flexible rod used in some women's gymnastic exercises.^[5][14]
6. (nautical, dated) A line for hoisting yards and smaller sails.^[14][16]

Word family

• giuncata
• giuncaceo
• giuncaia
• giuncare
• giuncheto
• giuncoso
• ingiuncare

Related words

• giunchiglia
• Latin iuncus

Usage notes

Giunco is also an old name for the Chinese sailing ship, now usually giunca (Pigafetta, 1521, Sassetti); DEI and the GDLI treat it as a separate word.^[9][17][10] Fixed names include giunco fiorito (flowering rush), giunco marino (esparto) and giunco del Nilo (papyrus).^[14][11]

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 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1821
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 885