piantumare

Forms

piantumare (first-person singular present piantùmo, first-person singular past historic piantumài, past participle piantumàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian piantume + -are for Nocentini, Treccani and the GDLI.^[2][3][4] Treccani explains piantume as a disused collective formed like pattume.^[3]

GRADIT, Gabrielli and Devoto–Oli derive it from Lombard piantumà (“to make cuttings, to transplant”).^[5][6][7] Devoto–Oli gives the Lombard sense as “to move to another pot”.^[7] The GDLI names the Lombard verb beside its own explanation.^[4] Wiktionary also mentions an unattested *plantumāre, from Latin planta (“plant”) and humus (“soil”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Devoto–Oli dates the word to 1873.^[7] The other dictionaries give much later dates: 1988 in Zingarelli and 1993 in Nocentini and GRADIT.^[8][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In current use it is a word of forestry and garden design, for setting out hedges and trees, especially tall ones.^[5][4] Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli stress planting an area according to a set plan, a park or a square, and Treccani marks the word as bureaucratic.^[7][6][3] Its noun is piantumazione.^[1]

Timeline

• 1873 – Devoto–Oli's date of first record.^[7]
• 1988 – Zingarelli's date.^[8]
• 1993 – Nocentini's and GRADIT's date.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, forestry, landscape architecture) To plant hedges and trees, especially tall ones.^[5][8][4]
2. (transitive) To lay out an area with trees, hedges and other plants according to a plan: piantumare un viale.^[7][6][3]

Word family

• piantumazione

Related words

• piantume
• pianta
• piantare
• Lombard piantumà

Usage notes

Treccani labels the verb bureaucratic.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli