melone

Forms

melone m (plural meloni, diminutive meloncìno)^[1] The southern and older form is mellone.^[2][3][4][1] Old Italian also had mellune, meluni and the northern molón.^[5]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin mēlō (“melon”), recorded from the 3rd century in medical writers.^[6][7][8][1] The Late Latin word is a shortening of Pliny's Latin mēlopepō, which renders Ancient Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn), literally “apple-gourd”, a compound of μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”) and πέπων (pépōn, “gourd, melon”).^[6][7][4][9] Pliny describes melons of this kind grown in Campania with the shape of quinces.^[6]

The same Latin word gave French melon and Spanish melón.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural melloni in a 1288 register of the Servite convent of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, for the plant with a creeping stem and sweet juicy fruit.^[6][5] The fruit itself is named in Florentine texts of 1310, among light foods: polastri a vergius, latughe, porcielane, meloni, cetriuoli, zuche (“chickens in verjuice, lettuces, purslane, melons, cucumbers, gourds”).^[6][10] The singular melone is recorded before about 1495.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word had to compete with Florentine popone: Tassoni wrote that melone is, throughout Italy, what popone is in Florence, and later usage set Roman melone against Florentine popone.^[6] Some old texts seem to tell the two apart, mellone being a bland vegetable like a long gourd and popone the tasty fruit; scholars disagree on whether the old word had both senses.^[6] Devoto–Oli explains the figurative sense “foolish, clumsy person” by this old insipid melon.^[2] Old Italian had the phrase avere il melone, “to come last”.^[5]

In the south melone d'acqua names the watermelon, Tuscan cocomero.^[2][11] Zoology uses the word for the fatty bulge on the forehead of dolphins.^[8][4] German took the word as Melone (1556, with earlier forms from 1493).^[12]

Timeline

• 1288 – The plural melloni appears in a Florentine convent register.^[6][5]
• 1310 – Florentine texts list meloni among foods.^[6]
• Before c. 1495 – Michele da Cuneo uses the singular melone.^[6]
• 1556 – German Melone is recorded.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The melon or muskmelon, an oval fruit with smooth or netted rind and sweet, fragrant, usually orange or white flesh.^[8][2][1]
2. (botany) The plant that bears it, Cucumis melo, an annual with a creeping stem.^[8][2][4]
3. (zoology) The fatty bulge on the forehead of dolphins.^[8][4]
4. (figurative, dated) A clumsy, foolish person.^[8][2][4]
5. (regional, southern) The watermelon, also melone d'acqua.^{[2][3][11][1]}

Word family

• meloncino
• melonaio
• meloncello
• mellonaggine

Related words

• popone
• melo
• Ancient Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn)

Usage notes

In Tuscany the fruit is called popone.^[3][10] Albero dei meloni and melone dei tropici refer to the papaya.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it