nerbo

Forms

nerbo m (plural nerbi)^[1] The plural is nerbi;^[2][3][4] Old Italian also had the feminine plurals Old Italian nerbora and Old Italian nerba.^[2][3][4] An old variant is Old Italian nerbio.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nervus (“sinew, tendon; strength”).^[6][7][8][1] The change of ⟨-rv-⟩ to ⟨-rb-⟩ is Tuscan and Umbrian, as in serbare, from Latin servō.^[9][10][5] The general form nervo is its doublet.^[1][11]

The same word is French nerf, Old Spanish niervo, Friulian nerf and Lombard nerb (“tendon”).^[7][12] Battisti and Alessio derive the forms of Lombardy, Provence and Catalonia instead from a Latin nervium, probably a calque of Greek νευρίον (neuríon).^[11]

The Latin word probably comes by metathesis from an older *neuros, from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ (“sinew”).^[13][1] It is cognate with Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “sinew, string”) and Sanskrit स्नावन् (snā́van, “sinew”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the first record before 1292, in B. Giamboni, with the sense of a dried tendon of an ox or horse used as a whip.^[6] Giamboni also uses the old plural nerbora for the sinews of the body.^[5] The Zingarelli dates the word to 1282.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian nerbo was still the anatomical sinew: in the Inferno a devil holds a sinner by the tendons of his feet, and the Scala dei Claustrali speaks of Jacob's sinew of the thigh.^[5][4] The figurative “strength, vigour; the strongest part” is in Dante before 1321.^[6] Dante also has il nerbo del viso, the keenness of sight.^[2]

The sense “the core of an army” became a set phrase: Machiavelli writes that infantry is the nerbo of armies.^[2] Davanzati's Tacitus speaks of the pick of the German guard.^[4] The old plural nerbora gave nerboruto “brawny”, recorded before 1348 in G. Villani.^[6][7] Nerbata, a stroke with the whip, followed in the 17th century.^[6]

Today nervo is the anatomical word, while nerbo keeps the whip, used at the Palio of Siena, and the figurative senses of energy and expressive force.^[14][2]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses nerbo.^[6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it figuratively for “strength”.^[6]
• Before 1348 – Nerboruto appears in G. Villani.^[6]
• Before 1665 – Nerbata is recorded in L. Lippi.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A whip of dried and plaited ox sinews, once used to punish; also the whip of the jockeys at the Palio of Siena.^[8][14][10]
2. (archaic) A sinew, nerve or tendon.^[8][14][15]
3. (figurative) Physical strength, vigour: essere tutto nerbo.^[8][2]
4. (figurative) Firmness of character or will, often in the negative: senza nerbo.^[8][14][10]
5. (figurative) Expressive force of a style or speech.^[8][14]
6. (wine) The quality of a wine that shows its character vigorously on tasting.^[8][2]
7. (figurative) The core, the strongest part of something: il nerbo dell'esercito.^[8][14][10]

Word family

• nerbata
• nerboruto
• nerbare

Related words

• nervo
• Latin nervus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 364
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2572
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana