piomboso

Forms

piomboso (feminine piombosa, masculine plural piombosi, feminine plural piombose)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin plumbōsus (“containing lead”), formed from plumbum (“lead”) with the suffix -ōsus.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The TLIO and Wiktionary also allow a formation in Italian, from Italian piombo + -oso.^[6][1]

The chemical sense is a separate, modern formation from piombo with the chemists' suffix -oso, which marks the lower valency.^[2][7][8] The origin of the Latin noun is unclear: de Vaan follows Beekes in linking it with a Celtic word for lead rather than with Ancient Greek μόλυβδος (mólubdos), and thinks it may be a loan from another language.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Boccaccio's Filocolo (1336–1338), where a sling stone is la piombosa pietra, the heavy stone that flies from the sling.^[6][10][11] The TLIO gives the senses “rich in lead” and “made of lead”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio also used the word for ground rich in lead, and Pegolotti in the 14th century for silver that has a leaden look;^[8][11] Biringuccio's Pirotechnia speaks of white, lead-bearing stone holding silver ore.^[8][11] Sforza Pallavicino gave it a figurative sense: the “leaden sirocco” of sloth.^[11]

In the 19th century chemists used the word for compounds of divalent lead, as in cloruro piomboso;^[11][2] GRADIT dates this sense from 1958 and treats it as its own word.^[11][2] The older senses are now literary or rare.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1336–1338 – Boccaccio's Filocolo has la piombosa pietra.^[6][10]
• 15th century – A Marucelliana manuscript warns that silver should not be piomboso.^[11]
• 1958 – GRADIT dates the chemical sense.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Containing lead, rich in lead: un minerale piomboso.^[2][4][7]
2. (literary) Of the colour of lead, leaden: un mare piomboso.^[2][13]
3. (rare) As heavy as lead.^[2][4]
4. (chemistry) Of a compound of divalent lead, plumbous: cloruro piomboso.^[2][3][4]

Word family

• piombosità

Related words

• piombo
• Latin plumbum

Usage notes

Zingarelli allows a voiced ⟨s⟩ beside the voiceless one.^[4] In chemistry the adjective contrasts with piombico, used for compounds of tetravalent lead.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ 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, 523
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f g Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli