pineta

Forms

pineta f (plural pinete)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin pīnētum (“pinewood”), taken from the plural pīnēta.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is formed from pīnus (“pine”) with the suffix -ētum, which names a grove.^[6][1] Meyer-Lübke lists the Italian word with Friulian pinede, Old French pinoie, Old Occitan pineda, Catalan pineda and the Spanish and Portuguese place names ⟨Pinedo⟩ and ⟨Pinhedo⟩.^[7]

The origin of pīnus is unclear: de Vaan considers a link with Ancient Greek πίτυς (pítus, “pine”) or with pix (“pitch”), or a tree name from a non-Indo-European language.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Purgatorio, which compares a sound in the earthly paradise to the wind gathering from branch to branch per la pineta in su 'l lito di Chiassi, the pine wood on the shore of Classe near Ravenna.^[9][3][10]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo noted that la pineta used alone meant the pine wood of Ravenna, Dante's wood.^[10] Davanzati wrote of pine woods as self-renewing forests that need no human work.^[10] Modern Italian uses the word for any pine wood, natural or planted, such as those of Castel Fusano near Ostia and of Classe and San Vitale near Ravenna.^[11]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante uses pineta in the Purgatorio.^[3][9][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pinewood, a wood of pines, natural or planted: Abbiamo pranzato all'ombra della pineta.^{[3][11][12][1]}

Word family

• pinetina

Related words

• pino
• pineto
• Latin pinus

Usage notes

The masculine pineto is a literary equivalent.^[13]

References

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