pervinca

Forms

pervinca f (plural pervinche)^[1] Old forms include provinca in Boccaccio and provenca in Mattioli (1544).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pervinca, a learned word.^[4][5][6][1] Pliny records the plant as vinca pervinca, and the short form is found first in Pseudo-Apuleius.^[7][2] Forms that keep only the first word, Old Italian erba vinca and a dialect French venche, show that the full phrase was current.^[7] The inherited outcomes are French pervenche, southern French pervenco, Spanish pervenca and Sardinian proinca;^[7][8] Spanish pervinca is a learned word like the Italian.^[7][8]

The origin of the Latin name is uncertain.^[4][6][9] Nocentini sees in the Latin phrase a magic formula that went with the use of the herb in folk medicine, connected with vinciō (“to bind, hinder”);^[8][1] Wiktionary likewise derives it from pervinciō (“to bind fast”).^[8][1] DEI and the GDLI compare the Greek name of an arum from Egypt and suggest an Egyptian origin, and Devoto finds no clear connection.^[2][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the 14th-century Italian translation of Pietro Ispano's Tesoro dei poveri, for the herb: Anche mastica la pervinca e si ristrignerà il sangue “also chew periwinkle and the bleeding will stop”.^[4][10] Tommaseo notes that other manuscripts read provinca.^[12][4]

Semantic evolution

Botanists described the plant at length: Soderini says the herb keeps its leaves all year and has blue flowers like little bells, and Tommaseo lists the greater periwinkle as a febrifuge and the lesser as a wound herb.^[10][12] The modern dictionaries distinguish pervinca maggiore (Vinca major) and pervinca minore (Vinca minor).^[9][5]

The colour sense, a violet blue like the flower, is first recorded in Gozzano in 1907 (occhio azzurro pervinca).^[4] It is used as an invariable noun and as an adjective placed after the noun.^[13][5]

Timeline

• 14th century – The Italian translation of Pietro Ispano names the herb.^[4]
• 14th century – Boccaccio uses the form provinca.^[2]
• 1544 – Mattioli writes provenca.^[2]
• 1907 – Gozzano uses pervinca as a colour.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) periwinkle: an evergreen perennial herb (Vinca minor) with trailing stems and violet-blue flowers, common in woods and hedges; also any plant of the genus Vinca.^[6][13][5]
2. (masculine, invariable) Periwinkle, a violet-blue colour.^[6][13][14]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after the noun) Periwinkle-coloured: una sciarpa pervinca.^[6][13][5]

Related words

• Latin pervinca
• French pervenche

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2869
3. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 764
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ 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. 13, 145
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse