lardo

Forms

lardo m (plural lardi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lardum (“bacon”), the syncopated form of lāridum, which is found in Plautus, while lardum already appears in classical poets such as Horace and Ovid.^[2][3][4] The same Latin word lives on in nearly all the Romance languages: French lard, Occitan lart, Catalan llard, Spanish lardo, Portuguese lardo, Sardinian lardu and dialectal Romanian lard.^[5][6][7]

The origin of lāridum is unclear.^[2][5][8] De Vaan rejects a derivation from the root of Latin largus (“abundant”) and thinks it most likely a loan from a Greek form related to Ancient Greek λαρινός (larinós, “fattened, fat”), with a change of suffix.^[9][1] DEI too compares the Greek adjective.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is in a Florentine document of 1286–1290, of the fat of the pig used as food.^[11] DELI's first record is in Boccaccio, before 1374, who writes that Roman armies carried only a little flour each and some lard; the word appears in the Medieval Latin of Bologna from 1313.^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed close to the Latin one: the fat under the skin of the pig's back and belly, salted or smoked, used in cooking.^[11][13] The Italian translation of Crescenzi already praises the pig's lardo as excellent for seasoning all foods.^[12] In Tuscany the word also means rendered pork fat, which elsewhere is strutto;^[14][3][13] Tuscans then call the solid fat lardone.^[14][3][13]

By extension lardo is any excess fat on a person or animal, and palla di lardo a very fat one.^[13][15][16] The diminutive lardello and its verb lardellare, “to lard meat”, both date from the 14th century.^[2][5] The proverb tanto va la gatta al lardo che ci lascia lo zampino warns that a risky act repeated too often ends badly.^[17][15]

Timeline

• 1286 – A Florentine document records the word.^[11]
• 1313 – Medieval Latin lardum is recorded at Bologna.^[2]
• 14th century – Lardello and lardellare appear.^[2][5]
• Before 1374 – Boccaccio uses the word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. lard, fatback: the layer of fat under the skin of the pig's back and belly, salted or smoked and eaten or used in cooking: Ho tagliato due fette sottili di lardo.^[13][18][3]
2. (by extension) Body fat, excess fat.^[13][18][3]
3. (Tuscany) Rendered pork fat, strutto.^[13][18][3]

Word family

• lardello
• lardellare
• lardone
• lardoso
• lardare
• lardaceo

Related words

• strutto
• Latin lardum
• French lard

Usage notes

Nuotare nel lardo “to swim in lard” is an old phrase for living in plenty.^[18][16][15] The GDLI records an obsolete lardo “dart”, a form of dardo by dissimilation.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2169
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 768
13. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ 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
19. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 769