nodo

Forms

nodo m (plural nodi)^[1] The old language had a plural Old Italian nodora.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nōdus (“knot, node”).^[4][5][1][6] Nocentini and GDLI call it panromance, and DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance noun for both “knot” and “knot in wood”;^[4][6][7][8] DELI treats it with nodulo, nodoso and nodosità as learned words from Latin.^[4][6][7][8]

The same word is French nœud, Occitan no, Catalan nus, Spanish nudo, Portuguese nó, Sardinian nodu and Romanian nod.^[4][9] The Spanish and Catalan forms with ⟨u⟩ belong to a variant of the Iberian and Gascon area whose origin is unexplained.^[7]

The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain: de Vaan sets up a Proto-Indo-European *neh₃do- (“knot”) and compares Old Norse nót (“net”), but allows that it may be a loanword.^[10] Wiktionary gives two theories, a root Proto-Indo-European *gned- (“to bind”), the source of English knot, or *ned- (“to tie”), the source of net.^[1] Nocentini compares Old Irish naidm (“bond”), and links nassa and nesso.^[4][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first dated sense is the figurative “obstacle, difficulty”, in Dante, before 1321.^[8] The concrete sense “knot tied in a thread or rope” is first recorded in Boccaccio in 1353, and the botanical “node of a stem” in the translation of Crescenzi about 1350.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses came early: “bond, tie” in Petrarch (before 1374) and “plot, entanglement” in Machiavelli (before 1527).^[8] In astronomy nodo named the points where a planet's orbit crosses the ecliptic (1568, Piccolomini).^[8]

The nautical unit of speed, one nautical mile an hour, is recorded in 1869; it comes from the log line, knotted at regular intervals, whose knots were counted as it ran out.^[8][3] Nodo ferroviario and nodo stradale are modelled on French nœud ferroviaire (1923) and nœud routier (1824).^[8] Physics, electrical engineering and anatomy took the word for points of a network, a standing wave or the body, and computing for each machine in a network (1995).^[12][6]

Timeline

• Before 1321 – Dante uses nodo for an obstacle or difficulty.^[8]
• c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi uses it for the node of a plant stem.^[8]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for a knot in a thread or rope.^[8]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it for a bond or tie.^[8]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it for the plot of a story.^[8]
• 1568 – Piccolomini uses it for the nodes of a planet's orbit.^[8]
• 1869 – The nautical unit of speed is recorded in Tommaseo–Bellini.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. knot: a tie made in a rope, thread or ribbon, joining two ends or fastening it to something: fece un nodo stretto alla corda.^[5][13][1]
2. A tangle in a rope, thread, hair and the like.^[5]
3. A junction where roads or railway lines meet: nodo stradale, nodo ferroviario.^[5][1]
4. (figurative) A difficulty, obstacle; the crux of a question.^[5][8][1]
5. (figurative) A bond, tie.^[8][1]
6. (botany) A node, the point of a stem where leaves grow; a knot in wood.^[8][12]
7. (nautical) A knot, the unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour.^[8][1]
8. (physics, mathematics, computing) A node or vertex, a point of a network or standing wave.^[1][12]

Word family

• annodare
• linfonodo
• nodino
• nodoso
• snodare
• nodale
• nodello
• nodosità
• nodulare
• nodulo
• annodatura
• snodabile
• snodo

Related words

• nassa
• nesso
• Latin nōdus
• French nœud

Usage notes

GRADIT lists many named knots, such as nodo bulino, nodo del pescatore and nodo gordiano.^[5][13] The vowel is open: /ˈnɔ.do/.^[1][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2594
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 486
4. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
13. ^ 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