madornale

Forms

madornale m or f (plural madornali)^[1] The old form is Old Italian madernale, and Old Italian maternale “maternal” is found in 14th-century writers.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Italian madernale, inherited from Vulgar Latin *maternāle(m) (“maternal”), a derivative of maternus (“of a mother”), from māter (“mother”).^[2][5][6][7] Devoto–Oli and Treccani give the source as Medieval Latin maternalis.^[8][9] The adjective was said of the main parts of a plant, above all of the thickest branches, growing straight from the “mother”, the stock or stump.^[2][5][7] From such phrases came the figurative sense “huge” that is the usual one today.^[2]

Devoto explains the ⟨-d-⟩ as the northern voicing of ⟨-t-⟩ and the ⟨-o-⟩ as a crossing with adorno.^[10] The REW lists only Old and modern Italian forms of the word, and Nocentini notes that French maternel and Spanish maternal are learned.^[11][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giamboni, before 1292, in the phrase “figliuoli madernali e bastardi”, sons born of the lawful wife and bastards.^[2][12] The sense “maternal, on the mother's side” is in the Italian Guido delle Colonne, where an ancestor is a madornal bisavolo, a great-grandfather on the mother's side.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “legitimate” lasted through the 14th century: Villani writes that a marquis left no figliuolo neuno madornale, no legitimate son.^[12][7] The botanical use is found in Giordano da Pisa (1303–1306), “tre madornali rami”, three main branches, and in the Italian Palladio for large branches and fruit.^[2][3]

The sense “very large, outrageous” is recorded from 1605 (Allegri), and Salvini spoke of spropositi madornali.^[2][3] Magalotti counted the word among the low, popular words that the next Crusca dictionary should mark.^[2] Today it goes mostly with errore and sproposito.^[6][9]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses madernale “legitimate”.^[2]
• 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa writes of tre madornali rami.^[2]
• 14th century – Maternale “maternal” is recorded.^[4]
• 1605 – Allegri uses madornale for “very large”.^[2]
• 17th century – Madornalità is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (figurative) huge, gross, outrageous, of a mistake or blunder: una svista madornale.^{[6][8][14][7]}
2. (botany) Of the main parts of a plant, growing straight from the stump: rami madornali.^[6][8][9][1]
3. (archaic) Maternal, on the mother's side.^{[6][8][14][1]}
4. (archaic) Born of a lawfully married mother, legitimate.^[6][8][7]

Word family

• madornalmente
• madornalità

Related words

• materno
• madre
• Latin maternus

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 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 Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 613
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2307
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse