melograno

Forms

melograno m (plural melograni)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian melagrana (“pomegranate”), the name of the fruit, according to Nocentini, Devoto–Oli, the GDLI and the Treccani.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} GRADIT and the TLIO, following DELI, take it instead from melogranato, reshaped under the influence of grano.^[7][8] Sabatini–Coletti calls it a compound of melo and the same noun on the model of Latin mālum grānātum, and Zingarelli a remaking of that Latin phrase.^{[7][8][9][10]}

The name of the fruit comes from the phrase mela granata (“apple with grains”), which matches the Latin phrase.^[2] Wiktionary traces the longer form to Vulgar Latin *melum grānātum, from Latin mālogrānātum, a compound of mālum (“apple”) and grānātum (“seeded”).^[1] The Vulgar Latin noun is the Greek form Ancient Greek μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”), a doublet of the classical word, which is from dialectal μᾶλον (mâlon).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Zucchero's Santà, a Florentine text of 1310, for the pomegranate tree.^[8][2] The early plural was meligrani (Palladio translation, about 1340), beside melagrani in the Tuscan Crescenzi translation (about 1350).^[11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also wrote melgrano and melo grano, and the word could name the fruit as well as the tree.^[8] The Palladio translation sows meligrani in March and April, and the Crescenzi translation recommends hedges of them around houses, since the shrub needs little nourishment.^[4] The singular melagrano is recorded in the 16th century, in the Florentine Ricettario (1550) and Mattioli.^[11] Tommaseo found melograno more common in use than melogranato and melagrano.^[12]

In Sardinia and the South the usual form is melogranato, also reduced to granatu.^[13] A Tuscan place name, Mengrano, is recorded as Milogranus in 983.^[13]

Timeline

• 983 – The Tuscan place name Milogranus is recorded.^[13]
• 1310 – Zucchero's Santà has the first record of melograno.^[8]
• c. 1340 – The plural meligrani appears in the Palladio translation.^[11]
• c. 1350 – The Crescenzi translation has melagrani.^[11]
• 1550 – The singular melagrano appears in the Florentine Ricettario.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The pomegranate tree (Punica granatum), a small tree with spiny branches, lance-shaped leaves and red flowers, whose fruit is the melagrana.^{[7][3][10][9]}
2. (colloquial, improper) The pomegranate fruit, properly melagrana.^[7][1][8]

Related words

• melagrana
• melogranato
• melo
• grano
• granato

Usage notes

The plural is melograni, less often meligrani;^[3][9][10] Tuscan uses melagrano.^[3][9][10] Using melograno for the fruit is considered incorrect.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10, 32
5. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2418