grifo

grifo¹ snout

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡri.fo/^[1]

Forms

grifo m (plural grifi)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the snout is inherited from Late Latin grypus (“big nose”), from Ancient Greek γρυπός (grupós, “hook-nosed”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Treccani gives this source as probable.^[6] DELI explains the ⟨f⟩ by a crossing with the verb grifare, and Sabatini–Coletti by the influence of grifo² “griffin”.^[2][5][7] Nocentini also connects the Greek adjective with the name of the griffin.^[3] DEI cites Medieval Latin griffum (Imola, 1334).^[8]

Zaccaria preferred a Germanic source, Old High German griff “grip”, on the grounds that a pig grips the ground with its snout.^[9] The later dictionaries derive the word from Greek through Latin.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto (before 1274), and the TLIO's first sense is the snout of a pig or wild boar.^[10][3] DELI's first record, also from Brunetto Latini, is the contemptuous sense “human face”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a dog's muzzle and, with an expressive tone, for a person's face.^[10] Dante's Però ti china e non torcer lo grifo (“So bend down and don't twist your snout”) shows the phrase torcere il grifo, to show pride or disgust.^[6][2][10] Ungersi il grifo meant to eat heartily, and Boccaccio uses it for eating at someone else's expense.^[10][6]

In the introduction to the Decameron two pigs take some rags first with their snouts and then with their teeth, and soon fall dead.^[11][12] Later writers extended it to the muzzle or head of other animals and to a bird's beak.^[11]

In Roman dialect grifo is a sudden fall, one in which a person often hits the face on the ground: Cortelazzo and Marcato take it from the snout sense.^[13][5] In the game of bocce de griffo describes a throw that strikes the jack before the ball touches the ground.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1274 – Brunetto Latini uses grifo in the Tesoretto.^[10]
• 1300–1313 – Dante writes non torcer lo grifo.^[2]
• 1310 – The form griffo appears in Bencivenni.^[2]
• 1334 – Medieval Latin griffum is recorded at Imola.^[8]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses it for a pig's snout.^[2]
• 1957 – The Roman sense “tumble” is recorded by Belloni and Nilsson-Ehle.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The snout of a pig or wild boar.^{[4][14][5][6]}
2. (figurative, derogatory) A person's face, a mug: Con quel grifo non lo fanno entrare. Torcere il grifo is to show disgust or contempt.^{[4][14][15][6]}
3. (Roman) A tumble, a fall: Sul ghiaccio ha fatto un brutto grifo.^[4][5][6]

Word family

• grifare
• grifata

grifo² griffin

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡri.fo/^[1]

Forms

grifo m (plural grifi)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the griffin is learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin gryphus, the late and popular Latin form of classical gryps, from Ancient Greek γρύψ (grúps).^[2][3][4][6] DELI ties the Greek name to the adjective γρυπός (grupós, “curved, hooked”), said of an aquiline nose and of curved claws, and suggests that the name may have come into Greek from another language.^[2][5]

The Latin form with ⟨ph⟩ also gave Catalan grif, Old Occitan griu, Spanish grifo and Portuguese grifo.^[16][17] The forms with ⟨p⟩ gave Old French grip and gripon, later replaced by grif and grifon.^[16] It also passed into Old High German grīfo, modern German Greif.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Mantuan text by Belcalzer, of 1299–1309.^[10][3] In Old Italian the word named a large bird of prey, the grifone vulture, as well as the winged beast with an eagle's head and a body with lion-like parts.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Compagni (1310–1312) has griffo as a heraldic figure.^[2] Cecco d'Ascoli writes that the griffin is strong but afraid, and keeps an emerald in its nest for protection.^[11] Ariosto writes of a horse that is no invention but real, born of a mare and a griffin (ch’una giumenta generò d’un grifo).^[11][12][14]

The longer grifone, recorded from the 13th century, became the usual name of the beast, and grifo in this sense is now literary or heraldic.^[3][6][4]

Timeline

• 1299–1309 – Belcalzer uses grifo in Mantua.^[10]
• 1310–1312 – Compagni uses griffo as a heraldic figure.^[2]
• Before 1327 – Cecco d'Ascoli writes of the grifo.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) The griffin, the same as grifone.^{[4][14][5][6]}
2. (heraldry) A chimerical figure with the head, wings and forepart of an eagle and the hindquarters and tail of a lion.^[4][14][6]

Word family

• grifone