limo

Forms

limo m (plural limi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin līmus (“mud, slime”), according to DELI, Nocentini and GRADIT.^[2][3][4][1] Zingarelli and GDLI call it a learned word.^[5][6]

The Latin word is pan-Romance: Old French lum, Occitan lim, Catalan llim, Spanish limo, Portuguese limo, Sardinian limu and Romanian im.^[3][7][8] A derivative Vulgar Latin *līmo gave French limon (“alluvial silt”).^[9] The Portuguese word also means seaweed and sedge.^[7]

The further origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[10][1] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek λίμνη (límnē, “marsh”) and Old High German leimo (“mud, clay”), the source of German Lehm and the English word loam.^[3] De Vaan gives two possible sources: Proto-Indo-European *loimo- (“loam”), from the root *h₂leyH- (“to smear”), or *sleh₁i-mo- (“slime”), related to the English word slime.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni, before 1292: Fece Iddio l’uomo di terra di limo (“God made man of earth of mud”).^[2] The TLIO's first example is Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, and its main sense is wet earth and fine silt settling as mud on river banks and beds.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used limo for the clay from which God shaped the human body, and so figuratively for human flesh and its frailty, and for moral filth.^[11] Tornare al limo meant to die.^[11] Dante has the sinners of the Styx fitti nel limo, and Petrarch hopes for a last lament senza terrestro limo, free of earthly stain.^[6][4][12] Boccaccio defined limo as the earth that muddy water leaves on river banks.^[6]

The scientific sense, the finest part of the material carried in suspension by water and laid down at river mouths and on flooded land, is recorded in Domenico Guglielmini before 1710.^[2] In modern geology limo is silt, a sediment between sand and clay in grain size, and geophysics speaks of limo atmosferico for dust and moisture in the air.^[12][13]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses limo and limoso.^[2]
• Second half of the 13th century – Limaccio “thick mud” is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses limo.^[11]
• Before 1710 – Domenico Guglielmini uses the word for river silt.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) mud, mire: il carro affondava nel limo.^{[4][13][14][5]}
2. (geology) silt: fine sediment carried in suspension by rivers, lakes, the sea or the wind and laid down where the water is still or has flooded.^{[4][13][14][12]}
3. A soil made of very fine particles.^[4]
4. (figurative, literary) Human nature with its flaws and sins.^[4][13][15]

Word family

• limoso

Related words

• limaccio
• limaccioso
• Latin limus
• French limon

Usage notes

Regional Tuscan has a separate limo, from limare, for a mild but nagging pain or worry, recorded from 1902 and used especially at Volterra, Livorno, Pisa and Lucca.^[4][9][6] Limo is also a form of that verb (“I file”).^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 83
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2234
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli