Etymologically
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lago

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Pronunciation

Forms

lago m (plural laghi)[1] The archaic and poetic form is laco;[2][3][4] Old Italian texts also have northern lag.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Italian laco, inherited from Latin lacus (“lake; basin, tank”), from the accusative lacum.[5][2][6][1] The voiced /ɡ/ of the modern word in place of /k/ is a northern development, as in many words of standard Italian.[5][7] The two forms long competed in Tuscan, and the alternation of the two forms poses many problems for editors of Dante, as Migliorini noted.[5] The form with /k/ has since been forgotten, but its /k/ survives in the learned derivatives lacuale and lacustre.[5][2]

The same Latin word is Old French lai (modern French lac), Occitan lac, Catalan llac, Spanish lago, Portuguese lago, Sardinian lagu and Romanian lac.[2][8] It also passed into Breton lagen (“marsh”) and German Lache (“puddle”),[9][8] and Nocentini counts English lake among the Romance loans.[2]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *lakus and Proto-Indo-European *lókus (“lake, pool”).[10][1] Its cognates are Old Irish loch, Ancient Greek λάκκος (lákkos, “pond, cistern”), Old Church Slavonic локы (loky, “puddle, pool”) and Old English lagu (“sea, flood”), all words for a stretch of still water.[10][2][11] De Vaan explains the /a/ of the Latin word, in place of the expected /o/, by unrounding after a velarized /l/;[10][1] Wiktionary notes that this word may be the only evidence for such a rule.[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Libro of the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, of the early 13th century, for a large body of water, usually fresh, filling a hollow of the land.[3] DELI's first date for the sense is Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word also for a stagnant marsh, an artificial basin, a pit or hollow in the ground, and figuratively for the feelings that fill the mind.[3] Dante's lago del cor, “the lake of the heart”, is the cavity of the heart where the blood gathers, and the phrase stayed in literary use.[3][12][13] The sense “a large quantity of spilled liquid” is in Dante (laco, 1313–1319) and in Matteo Frescobaldi (lago, before 1348).[5]

In Tuscan place names lago can also name a small pond or pool.[14] The technical terms of geography came much later: lago artificiale “reservoir” is dated 1929, lago craterico “crater lake” 1957.[5]

Timeline

  • Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the word.[3]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo has lago.[5]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses laco for a large quantity of spilled liquid.[5]
  • 14th century – Lagone, a large lake, is recorded.[5]
  • Before 1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici uses lagone for a basin of the boric steam vents of Tuscany.[5]
  • 1929 – Lago artificiale “reservoir” is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A lake: a large body of water, usually fresh, lying in a hollow of the land, fed by rivers or streams and not directly connected to the sea: Abbiamo passato l'estate in una casa sul lago.[6][4][12]
  2. (chiefly plural) A region with many lakes: la zona dei laghi.[12][6]
  3. (figurative) A large pool of spilled liquid: un lago di sangue, un lago di sudore.[6][4][15]
  4. (archaic) A cavity or hollow, especially in lago del cuore, the cavity of the heart where blood gathers.[6][15][12]

Word family

  • laghetto
  • lagone
  • lacuale
  • lacustre
  • allagare
  • allagamento
  • dilagare
  • oltrelago

Usage notes

Essere in un lago di sudore means “to be bathed in sweat”.[6][15] A minor homograph lago “needle”, from l'ago with the article fused to the noun, is recorded in Pisan dialect.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2152
  10. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 571
  15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli