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gromma

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word gromma

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1288 Sienese translation of Giles of Rome More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin *grumma
Ultimate origin
Latin grūmus

Forms

gromma f (plural gromme)[1] The old Tuscan form is Old Italian groma.[2][3] The variant gruma is still in use.[4][5][6]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[7][8][9] DELI, Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli take it to be inherited from Vulgar Latin *grumma or *grūma, a feminine collective of Latin grūmus (“small heap, mound”), meaning “a mass of clots”.[7][4][8][5][10] Nocentini supports this with a parallel case: taso, a synonym meaning wine tartar, is traced back to French tas (“heap”).[4] The GDLI and Körting prefer the Latin source as well.[3][11]

Diez and the REW instead derived it from Alemannic German grummele, a Swiss German word for wine sediment, and the DEI also proposed it.[12][11][7] Wiktionary, Wikizionario and Treccani still give this origin.[1][13][14] The DEI's proposal answered the difficulty of getting a closed /o/ from a long /uː/, but DELI still prefers the Latin source, given the early date of the Italian record.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in a Sienese translation of Giles of Rome of 1288, where it is the crust that wine leaves in casks.[2] DELI's earliest record is Dante's, before 1321.[7][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian gromma was the crust of wine tartar, sold in pieces and used in medicine; it was mixed into ointments in the Tuscan translation of Crescenzi, about 1350.[2][7][15] In the Paradiso Dante set it against mould, sì ch'è la muffa dov'era la gromma, “so that there is mould where the tartar was”: good wine leaves tartar and bad wine mould, and the line says that the Franciscan order had decayed.[2][14]

From wine the word spread to other crusts: the deposits left by water (groma before 1406, gromma 1550 in Vasari), the residue of fuel in firearms (before 1433), and the crust inside the bowl of a pipe, recorded in 1956.[7] The TLIO also has the dried sap of a plant.[2] GRADIT adds the sense “blood clot”.[8]

Timeline

  • 1288 – First record, in a Sienese translation of Giles of Rome.[2]
  • Before 1313 – Dante uses the verb grommare figuratively.[7][4]
  • Before 1321 – Dante sets gromma against muffa in the Paradiso.[7][2]
  • Before 1433 – The word is used for the residue in firearms.[7]
  • 1550 – Vasari uses gromma for the deposits of water.[7]
  • 1956 – The sense “crust in the bowl of a pipe” is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (oenology) The crust that wine leaves on the inside of a cask; tartar, argol.[8][5][16]
  2. A crust left by water on the inside of a pipe or by dripping water.[8][16][17]
  3. A deposit left by burning, especially the crust inside the bowl of a pipe.[8][5][6]
  4. A blood clot.[8]

Word family

  • grommare
  • grommoso
  • sgrommare
  • ingrommare
  • aggrommare

Usage notes

An old proverb says il buon vino fa gromma e il cattivo muffa: good wine makes tartar, bad wine mould.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ 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, 56
  4. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  9. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  13. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  14. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Gromma.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/gromma. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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