greggio

Forms

greggio (feminine greggia, masculine plural greggi, feminine plural gregge)^[1] The northern form grezzo is a variant of the same word.^[2][3] The oldest form is crezzo, and Prati found Crezi and Crezo in a Paduan codex.^[3][4] At Pisa, Livorno and Pistoia the adjective is gregge.^[5]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][6][7] In DELI's view it is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *gregius (“common, ordinary”), from Latin grex (“flock, herd”), and the opposite of ēgregius (“outstanding”).^[2][8] DELI follows Alessio here, but it also allows the older explanation through *lana gregia “wool of the flock”, wool as it comes from shearing without any cleaning.^[2][9] GRADIT, Treccani and Wiktionary give the same etymon with a question.^[6][9][1] DEI takes the Latin adjective as a calque of a Greek word for “of the herd”, and cites Medieval Latin gregius at Forlì and grezius at Padua in the 14th century.^[5]

Nocentini rejects that etymology outright.^[3] For him it is from Italian agreggiato, shortened by the loss of its first ⟨a-⟩: the past participle of agreggiare (“to make sour, rough”), from agro.^[3] Dialect forms of the Marche meaning “to turn sour” and “rancid” supply the intermediate steps.^[3] Devoto–Oli follows him.^[10]

DEI and Prati think the word came from northern Italy, and Prati found it most likely to be Venetian grezo.^[5][4] Prati himself, after Bertoni, called the origin unknown.^[4] Meyer-Lübke set up *gredius (“raw”) of unknown origin, and rejected earlier proposals from agrestis, *grevius and *gredius for gerdius.^[11]

De Vaan derives grex from Proto-Indo-European *gʷreg- (“group, herd”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1310–1330, in the form crezzo.^[3] Medieval Latin texts at Bologna use the adjective of cloth from 1256.^[2] The standard greggio is first found in Bernardo Davanzati, before 1600, who wrote of metalli greggi, “unworked metals”, in his translation of Tacitus.^[2][13][14]

Semantic evolution

A Vicentine wool statute of 1415 has the plural grezei.^[4] The word was used of metals and gemstones in their natural state.^[4][14] In 1684 Giovanni Sagredo wrote of a diamond “called grezzo in Venice” because it still needed working.^[2] Untanned skins (pelli gregge) appear before 1794 in Cesare Beccaria, and in 1798 D'Alberti recorded panni greggi “unbleached cloth” and lana greggia, wool as the wool trade buys it, unwashed.^[2]

Leopardi used the word figuratively in 1818 for what is not yet formed.^[2] The noun il greggio “crude oil” is recorded from 1965.^[2][15] The French grège, in soie grège “raw silk”, comes from the Italian word.^[11]

Timeline

• 1256 – Medieval Latin documents at Bologna use the adjective of cloth.^[2]
• 1310–1330 – First record, in the form crezzo.^[3]
• 14th century – Medieval Latin gregius at Forlì and grezius at Padua.^[5]
• 1415 – Vicentine grezei in a wool statute.^[4]
• Before 1600 – Bernardo Davanzati uses greggio.^[2][13]
• 1684 – Giovanni Sagredo records Venetian grezzo of an uncut diamond.^[2]
• Before 1794 – Cesare Beccaria writes of pelli gregge, untanned skins.^[2]
• 1798 – D'Alberti records panni greggi and lana greggia.^[2]
• 1818 – Leopardi uses the word figuratively.^[2]
• 1869 – Cuoio greggio “untanned leather” is recorded.^[2]
• 1956 – Grezzo di petrolio “crude oil” is recorded.^[2]
• 1965 – The noun greggio “crude oil” is recorded.^[2][15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. raw, unrefined: in its natural state, not yet cleaned or worked, of wool, silk, metals, gemstones, sugar or rice: petrolio greggio, crude oil.^[6][7][9][1]
2. Of cloth, unbleached; of leather, untanned.^[7][15][1]
3. Of work, roughly done or not yet finished: materia greggia, material still to be worked.^[6][10][7]
4. (figurative) Not yet formed or educated; rough, uncouth.^[6][15][16]

Noun

1. crude oil: Le scorte di greggio sono scese ancora.^{[6][10][15][7][1]}

Word family

• greggiamente
• semigreggio

Related words

• grezzo
• gregge
• egregio
• agro
• Latin grex

Usage notes

Greggio and grezzo are synonyms.^[7][15] Greggio is the usual word for crude oil, while grezzo also describes a rough, ignorant person.^[7] The feminine plural is gregge.^[9]

The TLIO records a separate Old Italian greggio for the wind called greco, in Francesco di Vannozzo (1379), perhaps a back-formation from grecesco.^[17] Tommaseo lists an obsolete greggio meaning “flock”, the same as gregge.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 528
5. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1868
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ a b c 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7
14. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it