legume

Forms

legume m (plural legumi)^[1] Old Italian forms include legome, Old Italian ligume and Old Italian lugume.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin legūmen (“pulse, legume”), a learned word.^[4][5][6][1] The Latin word lived on in the Romance languages: Old French leun, modern French légume, Occitan leum, Catalan llegum, Spanish legumbre, Portuguese legume and Romanian legumă.^[7][8]

Its origin is uncertain.^[6][4] The ancients took it from Latin legō (“to gather”), since pulses are picked by hand while cereals are reaped;^[7][9] Varro gives this explanation, and Nocentini notes that modern scholars have proposed nothing better, though DELI thinks it is probably a popular interpretation.^[7][9] Devoto supposes an Indo-European stem, lost elsewhere, extended from the root of legō, beside the suffix -men, as in Latin volūmen beside Latin volvō.^[10] Wiktionary notes that the long vowel before the suffix is unexplained and that it may be a loan from another language.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form legome in the Parlamenta of Guido Faba of Bologna, about 1243, of pulses as food: legóme bistiale, “beastly pulse”.^[2][9][5] The plural legumi is in Giamboni before 1292.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word named both the plants whose seeds grow in pods and the seeds themselves, fresh or dried, as food for people and animals, and figuratively a thing of little value.^[2] The botanical sense “pod” is first recorded in 1813, in Targioni Tozzetti.^[9]

Scientific Latin Leguminosae was drawn from the word in the 18th century, after French botanists' légumineuses, and Italian leguminose is recorded from 1806.^[9] After French légume Italian sometimes uses the word for vegetables in general, and legumiera, the serving dish, comes from French légumier and is recorded in 1950.^[11][9]

Timeline

• c. 1243 – Guido Faba writes legome.^[2][9]
• Before 1292 – Giamboni has the plural legumi.^[9]
• 1806 – Leguminose is recorded.^[9]
• 1813 – Targioni Tozzetti uses legume for the pod.^[9]
• 1950 – Legumiera is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The dry fruit of the Leguminosae (leguminose), a pod (baccello) that splits open along two seams.^[6][12][13]
2. (chiefly plural) Pulses: the edible seeds of leguminous plants, such as beans, peas, lentils, broad beans and chickpeas: Stasera mangiamo una zuppa di legumi.^[6][12][14]
3. (plural, uncommon) Vegetables in general, especially cooked, after French légumes.^[6][13]

Word family

• leguminosa
• legumiera

Related words

• Latin legumen
• French légume

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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, 934
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse