Etymologically
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luna

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Pronunciation

Forms

luna f (plural lune)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lūna (“moon”).[2][3][4][1] The word is found in every Romance language, and DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance noun from them: French lune, Occitan luna, Catalan lluna, Spanish luna, Portuguese lua, Sardinian luna and Romanian lună, which also means “month”.[3][5][6]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *louksnā, and an inscription from Praeneste still has the older Latin losna.[7][8][1] Behind it is Proto-Indo-European *lówksneh₂ (“the bright one”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“to shine, be bright”), which also gives lūx (“light”) and lūmen.[7][1][3] The word was probably first an adjective used as an epithet of the moon, whose noun was later dropped.[7][3] Related words elsewhere are Ancient Greek λύχνος (lúkhnos, “lamp”), Avestan raoxšna- (“light”), Old Prussian lauxnos (“stars”) and Russian луна (luná, “moon”).[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Francis of Assisi, about 1224, for the Earth's only natural satellite.[2][4] Nocentini dates the word to the 10th century, and DELI notes the form lunis “Monday” in the 10th-century Monza glossary.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The phases were named early: luna nuova before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, luna piena in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), and Dante also uses luna for the month the moon takes to go round the Earth.[2] Because the moon was thought to rule moods, the plural lune came to mean bad temper, as in avere la luna storta;[9][2] DEI derives German Laune (“mood”) from the same astrological sense.[9][2] Other words of the family keep old beliefs: lunatico renders a Greek word for “moonstruck”, that is epileptic, and mal di luna is the popular name for epilepsy.[2][3]

Luna di miele is the French lune de miel, itself a translation of English honeymoon (1546), where moon means “month”; in an Italian version of a Walter Scott novel of 1831 the phrase still needed a gloss.[2][3] The luna park takes its name from an amusement park at Coney Island, New York, of about 1911.[2][3] Far vedere la luna nel pozzo comes from the tale of the fox who makes the wolf believe that the moon reflected in a well is a cheese.[2] Alchemists called silver luna, after the crescent that was its symbol.[9]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Nocentini's date for the word.[3]
  • c. 1224 – Francis of Assisi uses luna.[2][4]
  • Before 1292 – Luna nuova “new moon” in Bono Giamboni.[2]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses luna for a lunar month.[2]
  • 1580 – Lunario, a table of the moon's phases, is recorded.[2]
  • 1803 – Luna di miele is first recorded.[3]
  • 1858 – A figurative luna, a dream world where the mind strays, appears in A. Guadagnoli.[2]
  • 1911 – Luna park appears in La Domenica del Corriere.[2]
  • 1959 – Allunare and allunaggio “moon landing” are formed on the model of atterrare.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The moon, the Earth's only natural satellite, often written Luna in astronomy: Gli astronauti sono atterrati sulla Luna.[4][10][11]
  2. The face of the moon as it is seen from the Earth in its changing phases: Stanotte la luna è piena.[4][12]
  3. The natural satellite of another planet: le lune di Urano.[11][12][13]
  4. (literary) A lunar month: Erano passate tre lune.[11][12][1]
  5. (figurative, usually plural) A bad mood, a fit of temper: Stamattina il capo ha la luna storta.[4][12][14]
  6. (alchemy) silver.[1][9]
  7. One of the cards of the tarot.[11]

Word family

  • allunare
  • lunario
  • mezzaluna
  • lunale
  • lunare
  • lunatico
  • lunato
  • lunazione
  • lunedì
  • lunetta
  • sublunare
  • lunotto
  • lunula
  • allunaggio
  • illune
  • stralunare
  • stralunato

Usage notes

Common set phrases are luna di miele (honeymoon), chiaro di luna (moonlight), con questi chiari di luna (in these hard times), abbaiare alla luna (to protest in vain), chiedere la luna (to ask for the impossible), vivere nel mondo della luna (to be out of touch with reality) and far vedere la luna nel pozzo (to deceive).[4][12][14][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 g h i j k l 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. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  7. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2284
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana