mungere

Forms

mungere (first-person singular present mùngo, first-person singular past historic mùnsi, past participle mùnto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The older form is mugnere.^[2][3][4] Old and dialect forms include móngere and mùngiere.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin mungere (“to milk”), a Late Latin form recorded in glosses, beside Latin mulgeō (“to milk”) of Classical Latin.^[6][7][1] Its /n/ is explained by a crossing with ēmungō (“to blow the nose; to cheat”).^[8][6][5] Nocentini starts instead from Vulgar Latin *mŭlgĕre, a form with a short vowel in the ending.^[9]

The DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance /ˈmʊlɡ-e-/ “to milk”: the type with /ng/, due to the attraction of a similar word, is a later layer that spread over much of the Romance area, but not to Sardinian, Romanian or French.^[10] Thus Sardinian mùlghere, Romanian mulge, Old French moudre and Occitan molzer keep the /l/, while Catalan munyir and Portuguese mungir have the nasal.^[9][11][10] French and Spanish replaced the verb with French traire, from Latin trahō (“to pull”), and Spanish ordeñar, from Vulgar Latin *ordiniāre (“to put in a row”), after the sheep lined up for milking.^[9]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“to milk”), and its cognates include Ancient Greek ἀμέλγω (amélgō), Old High German melchan and the English verb milk.^[1][12][9] mulceō (“to stroke”) keeps the earlier sense of rubbing, according to Nocentini.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is munçe in a vernacular line quoted by Salimbene (1281–1288): e meio sun le pecor' a ki le munçe (“and the sheep are better off with the one who milks them”).^[6] In the 14th century Guido da Pisa and Dante use it for milking animals.^[6] Guido da Pisa tells how Metabus fed his daughter on the milk of wild mares, milking it into her mouth.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to squeeze money out of” appears in Matteo Villani, who died in 1363, and Sacchetti has other figurative uses.^[6] Dante uses it for the eternal justice that draws out tears, and Giusti for a ruler who milks his subjects fino all'ultimo sacchetto.^[13] The Crescenzi translation says sheep are milked quickly at dawn all summer.^[4]

The derivatives came late: mungitura in 1862, mungitore in 1869 or 1891, mungitrice in 1917, at first macchina mungitrice, and mungitoio in 1935.^[6][9] smungere (16th century) means to make gaunt, and its participle smunto is older.^[9]

Timeline

• 1281–1288 – Salimbene quotes the vernacular munçe.^[6]
• 14th century – Guido da Pisa and Dante use the verb for milking.^[6]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it for squeezing money.^[6]
• Before 1468 – M. Savonarola uses it for pressing milk from the udder.^[6]
• Before 1484 – Pulci uses the participle munto.^[6]
• 1862 – Mungitura is recorded.^[6]
• 1917 – Mungitrice is recorded.^[6]
• 1935 – Mungitoio is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To milk an animal, such as a cow, sheep or goat, also with the milk as object: Il pastore munge le capre all'alba.^[7][2][13]
2. (figurative) To squeeze money out of someone, to fleece: Quel nipote munge lo zio da anni.^[7][2][3]
3. (figurative) To drain or plunder, especially public funds.^[7][2]

Word family

• mungitura
• mungitore
• mungitrice
• mungitoio
• munto
• smungere
• smunto

Related words

• promulgare
• Latin mulgeō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 11
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)