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grugno

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word grugno

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s late 13th century, Bonvesin de la Riva More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin grunium
Ultimate origin
Latin grunniō

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡruɲ.ɲo/[1]

Forms

grugno m (plural grugni)[1] Old forms include Old Italian grogno and Old Italian grogn.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin grŭnium (“snout”), recorded in the 6th century in the Latin Oribasius.[4][5][6][7] The Late Latin noun is probably a deverbal form of Latin grunniō (“to grunt”), through an earlier *grunnium.[4][8][9] The Latin verb is of imitative origin.[9][10]

The same word is French groin, Occitan gronh and Catalan gruny.[5][11] The DEI notes that it is a word of Tuscany, northern Italy, Provence and France, while southern Italy and Catalonia have it in other senses (a projection, a heap, a swelling); the REW adds groin “brow of a hill” and Aromanian forms meaning “chin” and “hill”.[6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva, late 13th century, where it is the snout of a pig.[2] DELI's first Tuscan record is the translation of Palladius, about 1340, which advises choosing boars with a small snout.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The Old Italian texts also use the word in contempt for the devil's mouth.[2] It was then applied to the faces of other animals and, scornfully, to a person's face, first recorded in Benedetto Varchi before 1565.[4][3][12]

A face set in a scowl gave the figurative sense “sulk”: San Bernardino of Siena has it in 1427, and a Sienese dictionary of 1614 records fare il grugno, to sulk.[4] The modern dictionaries keep these three senses, the snout of a pig or boar, the human face (jocular or scornful), and the sulk.[7][13][10]

Timeline

  • 6th century – Late Latin grunium “snout” in the Latin Oribasius.[4][5]
  • Late 13th century – First record, in Bonvesin de la Riva's Milanese poems.[2]
  • About 1340 – Tuscan grugno in the translation of Palladius.[4][7]
  • 1427 – San Bernardino of Siena uses it for a sulky face.[4]
  • Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses it scornfully for a human face.[4]
  • 1614 – A Sienese dictionary records fare il grugno “to sulk”.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The snout of a pig or boar.[7][13][9]
  2. (jocular or derogatory) A person's face, mug: rompere il grugno a qualcuno, to punch someone in the face.[7][13][10]
  3. (figurative, colloquial) A sulky expression, a pout: fare il grugno, to sulk.[7][10][14]

Word family

  • grugnire
  • grugnito
  • sgrugnare
  • grugnone
  • ingrugnare
  • ingrugnire
  • Latin grunnio
  • French groin

Usage notes

The DEI lists a separate regional grugno, a name for chicory in the Marche, Umbria and Emilia, recorded in the 19th century.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 81
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1877
  7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Grugno.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/grugno. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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