nodoso

Forms

nodoso (feminine nodosa, masculine plural nodosi, feminine plural nodose)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin nōdōsus (“knotty”), from nōdus (“knot”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary treats it as inherited.^[1] The same Latin word gave Sardinian nodozu and Spanish nudoso.^[6]

De Vaan reconstructs nōdus as Proto-Indo-European *nōdo- or Proto-Indo-European *neh₃do- (“knot”), but finds the root uncertain and a loanword possible.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Iacopone da Todi (before 1306) has the first record, speaking of a knotted cord, a scourge for the body: sostene lo fragello d'esto nodoso cordo.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Early uses describe knotted cords and nets: Simintendi's translation of Ovid has nodose reti.^[3] Dante's wood of the suicides has non rami schietti, ma nodosi e 'nvolti, “not smooth branches, but knotted and twisted” (Inferno 13).^[9][10] The vine, in the old translation of Crescenzi, is a low, twisted and knotty shrub.^[9]

The word was later applied to people: bony, lean hands or limbs.^[11][12][10] In literature it also meant harsh or difficult.^[2] Botany, medicine (eritema nodoso, formazioni nodose) and heraldry use it as a technical term.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses nodoso of a knotted cord.^[8][11]
• 1306–1321 – Dante's Inferno has branches nodosi e 'nvolti.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of knots, knotty, gnarled: un vecchio ulivo nodoso.^{[11][13][14][1]}
2. (figurative) Of a person or limbs, bony and lean: aveva dita nodose.^[11][13][12]
3. (literary, figurative) Harsh, difficult.^[2]
4. (medicine) Having nodules or hardenings of tissue: eritema nodoso.^[10][12][1]
5. (heraldry) Of a charge, showing knots placed opposite each other.^[13][10]

Word family

• nodosità

Related words

• nodo
• noderoso
• Latin nōdus

Usage notes

Nocchieruto and nocchiuto are synonyms.^[14] In botany a fusto nodoso is a stem swollen at the nodes.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ 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, 496
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
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
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse