legno

Forms

legno m (countable and uncountable, plural legni, diminutive legnétto or legnettìno or (archaic) legnerèllo, pejorative legnàccio, derogatory legnùccio)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lĭgnum (“wood; firewood”).^[2][3][4][1] Its Latin plural ligna (“firewood”) gave legna;^[2][3] DELI notes that the age of its records ends the 19th-century dispute over whether the form was correct.^[2][3]

The word is pan-Romance: Old French lein (“boat”), Occitan lenh, Catalan lleny (“ship”), Spanish leña, Portuguese lenha, Sardinian linna and Romanian lemn.^[3] In French it was replaced by French bois.^[5][6]

In Latin the word first meant wood chosen or gathered for burning, as against māteriēs (“building timber”).^[2] DELI, Nocentini and the OLD derive it from legō (“to gather”), “that which is gathered”.^[2][3][7] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *legno- from the root Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect”), with the regular change of ⟨-egn-⟩ to ⟨-ign-⟩, but finds a derivation from *legʰ- (“to lie”), “stray wood”, proposed by Ritter, just as possible.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, already in two transferred senses: “tree” and “ship” (as lengno).^[2][4] Nocentini dates the word to the middle of the 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “ship” matches a Medieval Latin lignum for a vessel smaller than a galley, from the middle of the 13th century, and Old French, Occitan and Catalan words of the same meaning.^[5][9] French borrowed the Italian naval term as ligne (12th–15th centuries).^[10] Dante uses both literary senses: the tree in Legno è più su che fu morso da Eva (“higher up is a tree that was bitten by Eve”) and the ship in Dietro al mio legno che cantando varca (“behind my ship that crosses singing”).^[11][12]

The everyday senses are recorded a little later: a piece of wood before 1342 (Cavalca), the material about 1350 (the Italian Crescenzi), a stick or club before 1609 (Croce).^[2] In the 14th century the word also meant a fine carriage (Storie pistolesi), a sense still found in Manzoni.^[2][4] The botanical sense, the tissue of trunk and branches, is first recorded in the Ricettario fiorentino of 1499.^[2]

Testa di legno, a puppet and figuratively a blockhead, dates from 1841 (Giusti), and legni for the woodwinds of the orchestra from 1914 (Lucini).^[2] In golf a legno is a club for long shots.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses legno for a tree and a ship.^[2]
• 13th century – Legna “firewood” is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses it for a piece of wood.^[2]
• About 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for the material.^[2]
• 1499 – The Ricettario fiorentino uses it for the tissue of the tree.^[2]
• 1841 – Giusti has testa di legno.^[2]
• 1914 – Lucini uses legni for the woodwinds.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The hard tissue of the trunk, branches and roots of trees and shrubs, under the bark.^{[4][14][13][15]}
2. wood as a material, for building, carpentry or fuel: un tavolo di legno di noce.^[4][14][11]
3. A piece of wood; a stick, club: Prese un legno per attizzare la brace.^[4][11][13]
4. (literary) A tree.^[4][11][12]
5. (literary) A ship or boat.^[4][11][12]
6. (dated) A carriage.^[4][11][12]
7. (music, plural) The woodwinds of the orchestra.^[4][11][13]
8. (golf) A wood, a club for long shots.^[13]

Word family

• legna
• legname
• legnaiolo
• legnaia
• legnoso
• legnata
• legnare
• legnatico
• legnosità
• legnaceo
• falegname

Related words

• ligneo
• leggere
• Latin lignum

Usage notes

The plural is legni; the Latin plural survives as the separate noun legna, firewood, beside legname, timber for building and work.^[16][17] Many names of woods are formed with a colour, a quality or a place of origin, such as legno santo or legno di Rodi.^[5] A proverb says ogni legno ha il suo tarlo, “every wood has its woodworm”: even the best have faults.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2196
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 584
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana