giunta

giunta¹ addition

Etymology tree of giunta¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin iungō

French joindre

Italian giungere

Italian giunto

Italian giunta

Spanish uncir

From the same root · giunta¹

English joiner ← iungō

Latin abiungō ← iungō

Latin adiungō ← iungō

Latin coniungō ← iungō

Latin coniūnx ← iungō

Latin disiungō ← iungō

Latin iniungō ← iungō

Latin iūmentum ← iungō

Latin iūncta ← iungō

Latin iūnctiō ← iungō

Latin iūnctūra ← iungō

Latin iūnctus ← iungō

Latin sēiungō ← iungō

Latin subiungō ← iungō

Old French joint ← iungō

French rejoindre ← joindre

Pronunciation

• /ˈd͡ʒun.ta/^[1]

Forms

giunta f (plural giunte)^[1] Old Italian forms include gionta, iunta, and in the north zonta, zunta and çonta.^[2]

Etymology

The word for an addition is from Italian giunto: it is the feminine of this past participle of giungere, used as a noun, in both its senses, “to join” and “to add”.^[3][4][5][6] The verb is from Latin iungō (“to join”).^[3] For the sense “joint” DEI thinks of Old French jointe or a back-formation from giuntura, and GDLI too compares the Old French word.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giacomo da Lentini, between about 1230 and 1250, in the sense of the point where two parts are joined.^[2][3][5] An anonymous 13th-century text has it as “addition”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word widely: for joining and its result, for a joint of the body or of an animal's legs, for something added, a clause added to a law, extra goods given with a purchase, and for arrival.^[2] Dante has le giunte for the joints of the legs, “sì forte guizzavan le giunte” (so hard the joints writhed), and la prima giunta for the moment of arrival, “m'assisi ne la prima giunta” (I sat down as soon as I arrived).^[9][10]

Giordano da Pisa, before 1311, uses it for the bit of meat or bone added to make up the weight.^[3] Boccaccio has giunta as an extra misfortune on top of others, and the Tuscan proverb ogni male vuol giunta says that one evil brings another.^[9] The adverb per giunta, moreover, is now the most frequent use outside the shop.^[6][11]

Timeline

• About 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses giunta.^[2][3]
• 13th century – Giunta means an addition in an anonymous text.^[3]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for the make-weight.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An addition: Ho fatto una giunta in fondo al biglietto.^[5][12]
2. A strip of cloth sewn on to lengthen something.^[5][6]
3. An extra piece of meat, bread or the like added to make up the weight: dare un osso di giunta.^[5][12]
4. The joining of two pieces, as of two lengths of film; also the joint itself.^[5][12]
5. (regional) A land measure of Lazio, equal to sixteen ares.^[5]
6. (literary) Arrival;^[5][10] a prima giunta, at once, at first sight.^[5][10]
7. (archaic) A joint of the body.^[5][13]
8. (nautical, historical) A pair of extra sails set beside the square sails.^[5][11]

Word family

• sopraggiunta
• giuntina
• giunterella

giunta² council

Etymology tree of giunta²

inherited borrowed derived

Spanish junta

English junta

Italian giunta

Pronunciation

• /ˈd͡ʒun.ta/^[1]

Forms

giunta f (plural giunte)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a council is borrowed from Spanish junta, a word very common in Spain.^{[3][4][5][12]} The Spanish noun, recorded from 1055, is formed from juntar (“to bring together”), or from the past participle junto (“joined”).^[5][7][4] It seems to have come first into the Kingdom of Naples.^[3]

Venice, however, had long had a body of the same name, in dialect Venetian zonta, of persons added to public bodies: in 1540 Giannotti speaks of the Council of Ten with its Giunta.^[3] The TLIO finds the sense “collegiate body” already in Old Italian and holds that its dates and area do not support a loan from Spanish, and Treccani takes it as the native word given this sense on the Spanish model.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is gionta di guerra, a war council, in Gualdo Priorato in 1654, and giunta alone appears in Pallavicino in 1656.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The word came to name the executive body of many institutions: the giunta di stato founded at Genoa in 1639, the giunta dei veleni of the Kingdom of Naples (1734), which judged poisonings, and today the executive of a commune, province or region, led by the mayor or the president.^[6] In the Italian parliament it is a committee that verifies elections or decides on requests to prosecute members.^[5][13]

Giunta militare, the group of officers ruling after a coup, refers especially to Latin America.^[6] English recorded giunta in 1673 for the patricians who joined the Venetian Council of Ten in emergencies, and German Giunta in 1838.^[14]

Timeline

• 1540 – Giannotti mentions the Venetian Giunta of the Council of Ten.^[3]
• 1654 – Gualdo Priorato writes gionta di guerra.^[3]
• 1656 – Pallavicino writes giunta.^[3]
• 1673 – English giunta is first recorded.^[14]
• 1838 – German Giunta is recorded.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small collegiate council with executive, consultative or deliberative powers, under a president; especially the executive of a comune, province or region: La giunta comunale si riunisce stasera.^[5][11][12]
2. A committee of members of parliament charged with verifying elections and similar tasks: giunta delle elezioni.^[5][11]
3. In Italian schools, the executive body of each institute.^[5][11]
4. (politics) A junta, a dictatorial government set up after a coup: giunta militare.^[11][12]