nembo

Forms

nembo m (plural nembi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nimbus (“rain cloud; storm”).^[2][3][4][1] The word survives regularly only in Italian, and even there it was never a popular word.^[5][6][7] The GDLI calls it learned, while Sabatini–Coletti treats it as the popular form beside the learned nimbo, its doublet.^[8][9][1] nimbus belongs to the family of Latin nebula (“mist; cloud”) and Latin nubes (“cloud”), the sources of nebbia and nube.^[3][2][4]

De Vaan connects nimbus with nebula and Latin imber (“shower of rain”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *nebʰ-.^[10] Its ⟨m⟩ might come from a Proto-Indo-European *nébʰos (“cloud”) reshaped after imber, which has a similar meaning, but he finds this possible and unnecessary.^[10] Wiktionary also starts from *nébʰos with an inserted nasal, and names Ancient Greek νέφος (néphos, “cloud”) and Sanskrit नभस् (nábhas, “sky”) among the cognates.^[1] Devoto likewise thought of an old Latin *nebus, the same word as Greek νέφος (néphos), crossed with imber.^[11]

As a term of meteorology the word was fixed by the English meteorologist Luke Howard in 1803, through the scientific term New Latin nimbus.^[2][9][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to the second half of the 13th century, Zingarelli to the 13th, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli to the 14th.^{[4][13][3][14]} DELI's first dated record is in Petrarch, before 1374, in the sense of a low, dark cloud that usually brings rain or snow.^[2] An old form nenpo appears in the Storia di Stefano in the sense “din, crash”, and a vernacular Bible already has viene il nembo, “the storm is coming”, said by those who see clouds come from the west.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant both the dark rain cloud and the sudden, short and violent downpour it brings, a storm with thunder and wind; in the plural, i nembi are the weather let loose.^[8][4] Carducci glossed nembi as storms properly of rain, against procelle, storms of rain and wind.^[8] Petrarch's amoroso nembo is a thick shower of flowers, and Tommaseo lists such sudden, dense showers of anything among the senses.^[15]

A crowd moving like a cloud is recorded from Annibal Caro, before 1566, and Tasso has sovra noi di strali un nembo cade, “a cloud of arrows falls on us”.^[2][4] A dense swarm of insects is recorded in Tommaseo's dictionary in 1871.^[2] Figuratively the word also named a time of violent conflict or disaster, above all in nembo di guerra, the storm of war.^[8]

In 1803 Luke Howard made Latin nimbus a technical name of cloud classification; in Italian meteorology nembo now covers the two rain clouds called cumulonembo and nembostrato.^[2][16][12] Nembostrato is recorded from 1965.^[2] In ordinary use the word is literary.^[4][14]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – GRADIT's date for the first record of nembo.^[4]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses nembo for a low, dark rain cloud.^[2]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for a large crowd of people.^[2]
• 1803 – Luke Howard fixes Latin nimbus as a meteorological term.^[2][9]
• 1871 – Tommaseo's dictionary records the sense “dense swarm of insects”.^[2]
• 1965 – Nembostrato is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) A large, dark cloud that threatens rain, hail or other heavy precipitation: il nembo nero si avvicinava alla valle.^{[4][14][9][17]}
2. (literary) A sudden, violent downpour; a storm.^[4][17][13]
3. (meteorology) A rain cloud of either of two kinds, the cumulonembo or the nembostrato.^{[16][12][4][14]}
4. (figurative, literary) A dense mass of people, animals or things, especially when moving: un nembo di cavallette (a swarm of locusts); a nembi, in great quantity.^{[4][9][17][16]}

Word family

• nembostrato
• cumulonembo
• nemboso

Related words

• nimbo
• nube
• nebbia
• Latin nimbus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2566
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 336
9. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli