nebbia

Forms

nebbia f (plural nebbie)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nebula (“mist, fog; cloud”), through a shortened spoken form *nebla.^[2][3][4][1] The vowel after the stress was lost and the group /bl/ then developed as it regularly does in Tuscan, to /bbj/.^[5][1] The same word is Old French nieble, Occitan neula, Spanish niebla, Portuguese névoa and Sardinian neula, and in Italian dialects Sicilian negghia and Venetian nebia.^[3][6][1] Romanian negură was influenced by niger (“black”).^[6] Pieri and Merlo derived the Italian word from nubilus (“cloudy”) because of its vowel, but Meyer-Lübke found this doubtful.^[6]

The Latin word is from Proto-Italic *nefelā, from Proto-Indo-European *nebh-e-lo- “small cloud”, according to de Vaan;^[7] Wiktionary traces it to *nébʰos (“cloud”).^[1] It matches Ancient Greek νεφέλη (nephélē, “cloud”), Old High German nebul (whence German Nebel), Welsh nyfel (“clouds”) and Old Norse nifl (“darkness, haze”).^[7][3][1] Devoto adds that the root is found with other suffixes in Indic, Hittite and Slavic.^[8] Nocentini puts nubes (“cloud”) and nimbus in the same family, while Wiktionary says that the former is not related.^[3][1] The learned doublet is nebula.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Giamboni (before 1292), with the sense of fog: tiny droplets suspended in the air near the ground that reduce visibility.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Dante used the word before 1321 for a clouding of the mind, and later dictionaries record it for ignorance and blindness.^[2][10] The derivatives followed early: nebbioso “foggy” in the late 13th century and in the Tuscan Crescenzi (about 1350), annebbiare “to fog, to dim” about 1306, and nebbione “thick fog” before 1472.^[2][3]

In farming nebbia names a fungal disease of grasses, powdery mildew, recorded by Filippo Re before 1817 and in Lessona in 1875.^[2][10] It is also the name of several grasses (DEI dates this to Fanfani, 1855), a spot that clouds the cornea, and in chemistry a mist of liquid droplets in a gas.^[11][4][9] The word for a smoke-producing chemical, nebbiogeno, dates from 1932.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses nebbia for fog.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Nebbioso “foggy” is recorded.^[3]
• About 1306 – Annebbiare is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses nebbia for a clouding of the mind.^[2]
• Before 1472 – Nebbione “thick fog” in Dati.^[2]
• Before 1817 – Filippo Re uses nebbia for a disease of grasses.^[2]
• 1855 – Fanfani records nebbia as the name of a grass.^[11]
• 1932 – Nebbiogeno “fog-producing” is recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. fog, mist: a mass of tiny water droplets condensed near the ground or over water, which makes the air less clear and cuts visibility: C'era tanta nebbia che non si vedeva la strada.^[4][12][9]
2. (figurative) Something that clouds the mind or the senses: la nebbia del sonno.^[4][9][5]
3. In similes, something short-lived or insubstantial: sparire come nebbia al sole.^[12][5][13]
4. (botany) powdery mildew, a fungal disease of wheat and other grasses.^[4][9][14]
5. (botany) A name for several grasses of the genus Aira and for ornamental plants of the genus Gypsophila.^[4][13]
6. (medicine) A whitish spot on the cornea that blurs the sight.^[9][5][14]
7. (chemistry) A dispersion of tiny liquid droplets in a gas.^[4]
8. (military) Nebbia artificiale: an artificial smoke screen.^[9][13][12]

Word family

• nebbione
• nebbioso
• nebbiosità
• nebbiogeno
• annebbiare
• annebbiamento
• snebbiare
• antinebbia

Related words

• nebula
• nube
• nembo
• German Nebel

Usage notes

Zingarelli distinguishes nebbia from foschia (haze) and caligine by how much it reduces visibility.^[9] Banco di nebbia is a fog bank.^[13][4] Oudin gave nebbia with an open /ɛ/, perhaps the Roman pronunciation.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 293
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 694
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2558
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli