lucerna

Forms

lucerna f (plural lucerne)^[1] Older forms include Old Italian luserna, Old Italian lucierna and Old Italian lucherna.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lucerna (“oil lamp”).^[3][4][5][1] DELI and GRADIT give it as Late Latin, recorded at Rome from the 4th century and in the Ravenna papyri of 564.^[3][5] DEI posits Vulgar Latin *lūcerna with a long vowel taken from lūx (“light”).^[6] The GDLI calls the Italian word learned.^[7]

The word lives on in Old French luiserne, Catalan lluherna, Portuguese luzerna and Piedmontese lüzerna.^[4][8] Logudorese lugerra means a sharp eye, and Engadine lincerna a lizard.^[8] It was borrowed into Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌽 (lukarn), into Celtic, as Old Irish locharn and Welsh llugorn, and into Serbo-Croatian.^[6][8]

The origin of Latin lucerna is debated.^[9][6] Nocentini, Sabatini–Coletti and Wiktionary derive it from lūx or lūceō (“to shine”), with the suffix of lanterna.^[4][10][1] De Vaan agrees on the suffix, but notes that the short /u/ is unexplained.^[9] DEI and Devoto take it from Ancient Greek λύχνος (lúkhnos, “lamp”), DEI probably through an Etruscan *luchrna, Devoto with the ending of cisterna and taberna;^[11] Zingarelli sees an adaptation of the Greek word on the model of lanterna.^[6][12][11] lūx goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“light”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, from Cremona, early in the 13th century, where DELI gives the sense “light, splendour”.^[2][3] The lamp itself is first recorded in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, who notes that a lit lamp found out in the morning shows water underground.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for any lamp, for natural light, and figuratively for the eyes, for the divine grace and for a guide.^[2] Dante calls the sun “la lucerna del mondo”.^[3][11] Della Casa's Galateo, before 1556, objected to this metaphor, as it made readers think of the smell of oil and the kitchen.^[3]

The Gospel saying about the lamp hidden under a bushel made lucerna sotto il moggio a proverb for a person or truth kept hidden.^[13] The jurist Irnerius was called lucerna del diritto.^[14][15] The lamp with its spouts gave its name to things of that shape: the spout under a wine or oil press (before 1597), a soldier's hat (1848) and the priest's hat (1863).^[3] The two-cornered hat of the Carabinieri's dress uniform and the stargazer fish, pesce lucerna, are named the same way.^[5][10]

Sapere di lucerna (to smell of the lamp) is said of a work that shows too much labour; the phrase goes back to Plutarch's remark on the speeches of Demosthenes.^[15] The derivative lucernario, a skylight, is recorded from 1803.^[3]

Timeline

• 564 – Latin lucerna in the Ravenna papyri.^[3]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi: light, splendour.^[2][3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni: the oil lamp.^[3][5]
• Before 1321 – Dante calls the sun la lucerna del mondo.^[3]
• Before 1556 – Della Casa criticises Dante's metaphor.^[3]
• Before 1597 – The spout of a press, in Soderini.^[3]
• 1803 – Lucernario, skylight.^[3]
• 1848 – A soldier's hat, in Guerrazzi.^[3]
• 1863 – The priest's hat.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An oil lamp: a portable lamp burning a liquid fuel, with one or more spouts for the wicks: Leggeva fino a tardi alla luce della lucerna.^[5][14][10]
2. (figurative, literary) A source of light, physical or spiritual: la lucerna del mondo (Dante), the sun.^[5][14][11]
3. (literary) The eye; sight.^[14][10][11]
4. (colloquial) The priest's hat; the two-cornered hat of the Carabinieri's dress uniform.^[5][14][10]
5. (technology) The spout under the screw of a wine or oil press, through which the liquid runs.^[5][14][15]
6. (zoology) The stargazer (Uranoscopus scaber), a Mediterranean fish with venomous spines that lies buried in sand; also pesce lucerna.^[5][10][16]

Word family

• lucernario
• lucernaio
• lucernale
• lucernata
• lucerniere
• lucernone

Related words

• luce
• lanterna
• lucignolo
• Latin lucerna

Usage notes

DEI lists a separate lucerna “lucerne, alfalfa” (17th century), from French luzerne, itself from a Provençal word for the glow-worm, named for its shining seeds.^[6]

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, p. 20, 244
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2275
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 263
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 2, 1897
14. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli