pantegana

Forms

pantegana f (plural pantegane)^[1] It is also spelt pantigana.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Venetian pantegana, a word of the northern dialects that is also Lombard and Genoese.^[4][5][6] Nocentini and most dictionaries trace it to Latin Ponticus (“Pontic”), used of mūs (“mouse”): the “mouse of Pontus”, the Black Sea, which in Latin properly meant the ermine.^[5][6][2][7] The Latin adjective is from Ancient Greek Ποντικός (Pontikós), from Πόντος (Póntos, “Pontus”).^[5] Zingarelli and Sabatini–Coletti start directly from the Greek word, and GRADIT calls the origin uncertain.^[4][8][9]

The ending is explained by a widening of the suffix to -ānus, as in Āfricus beside Āfricānus.^[10][2][3] Cortelazzo and Marcato start from *ponticanus (“of the sea”).^[11] DEI places the centre of the word in Romagna and sees in it a Greek word of the Exarchate of Ravenna, with /nt/ kept unvoiced.^[10] It lists forms such as Emilian pòndeg at Modena, and regards Tarantino pòndicu and a similar Calabrian form as later, Byzantine loans.^[10][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date the word from before 1832, for the large sewer rat.^[9][5] Boerio's Venetian dictionary describes the pantegana as a water rat living in ditches and ponds and eating the roots of trees.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed regional, used above all in Romagna and the Veneto but known elsewhere.^[2][6] Writers from the north-east used it in literary Italian: Scipio Slataper writes of a cat sniffing the smell of pantigane under the barrels, and Montale of a pantegana crossing the water beside a gondola.^[3][11] As a vulgar insult it also means a prostitute.^[9][8]

Timeline

• Before 1832 – Pantegana “sewer rat” is first recorded.^[9][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) The brown rat, a large sewer rat; surmolotto.^[9][6][4]
2. (vulgar, derogatory) A prostitute.^[9][8]

Related words

• pontico
• Latin Ponticus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 501
4. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2752
11. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET, p. 367