maremma

Forms

maremma f (plural maremme)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian maretima, Old Italian maréma and Old Italian marièma.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin maritima, the popular outcome of the Latin word for coastal land.^[4][5][6][7] The sources disagree on the Latin form.^[4][5] Nocentini and the TLIO see the feminine of maritimus (“of the sea, coastal”), short for a phrase with ōra (“shore”), “land by the sea”, which became the proper name of the Tuscan Maremma.^[4][6] GRADIT, Treccani, Zingarelli, Sabatini–Coletti and the GDLI see the neuter plural, “coastal places”.^{[5][8][9][10][3]} Devoto and Devoto–Oli supply regiō (“region”).^[11][12] The adjective is formed from mare (“sea”).^[13]

The vowel after the stress was lost, as is usual.^[11] Older Italian still had Old Italian maretima in the 13th and 14th centuries, and the form survives in place names at Velletri and Marino near Rome.^[2] The same Latin word gave Old French maresme, Catalan maresma and Spanish marisma.^[4][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Medieval Latin document of 762 already names a place Maritima.^[7] The first Italian record is in Bono Giamboni's translation of Orosius (Florence, before 1292), where the Gauls come plundering per le contrade di maremma, “through the districts of the coast”.^[7][6][3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was linked with the Tyrrhenian coast: Guittone, before 1294, names the Tuscan Maremma.^[7][6] Dante uses it as a proper name: Siena mi fe’, disfecemi Maremma, “Siena made me, Maremma undid me”, and he names the sicknesses of the Maremma with those of Sardinia and the Valdichiana.^[15][3] Around 1500 Sanudo shows the Sienese Maremma as a place to buy cattle.^[7]

The general sense is a low, marshy coastal plain, and in the plural any unhealthy marsh;^[5][8][3] gas delle maremme was a name of methane.^[5][8][3] In a rare figurative use Manzoni speaks of a maremma of questions, a tangled situation.^[8][5] The adjective maremmano dates from the 13th century.^[4]

French has maremme (from the 14th century as mareme), English maremma from 1593, and German Maremma from 1838.^[16] In English it also meant the malarial air of such a marsh (1850; the OED has 1819).^[16]

Timeline

• 762 – A Medieval Latin document names a place Maritima.^[7]
• 1221 – Maremma appears in a pact between Pisa and Arles, probably meaning a convoy of ships.^[17][2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses maremma.^[7][6]
• Before 1294 – Guittone names the Tuscan Maremma.^[7]
• About 1500 – Sanudo mentions buying cattle in the Maremma of Siena.^[7]
• 1593 – English Maremma is recorded.^[16]
• 1838 – German Maremma is recorded.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geography) A low, flat coastal plain, often marshy, where a closed sand bar shuts in coastal lagoons.^{[5][12][8][10]}
2. Maremma or Maremma toscana: the coastal strip of southern Tuscany and northern Lazio, between the river Cecina and the Tolfa hills, now mostly reclaimed.^{[9][18][5][1]}
3. (figurative, rare) A tangled, confused situation.^[5][8]

Word family

• maremmano

Related words

• marittimo
• mare
• Latin maritimus
• Spanish marisma

Usage notes

DEI and Prati record a separate maremma of 1221 meaning a convoy of two or more ships joined by gangways, from the same Latin maritimus.^[17][2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 635
3. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 792
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
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. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2364
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana