piovoso

Forms

piovoso (feminine piovosa, masculine plural piovosi, feminine plural piovose)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pluviōsus (“rainy, wet”), an adjective formed from pluvia (“rain”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[2][3][1][4] Several dictionaries describe it instead as an Italian derivative of piova, the old and regional word for rain, with the suffix -oso, made on the model of the Latin adjective.^[5][6][7][8] Treccani combines the two views: the Latin word was remade on the Italian one.^[9] Devoto saw the same crossing of the Latin adjective with the Italian noun.^[10]

The noun naming the fifth month of the French Republican calendar is an adaptation of French pluviôse, recorded from 1793, itself a learned formation on the same Latin adjective.^[11][12][1] Zingarelli treats it as the Italian adjective used on the model of the French name.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest form is piovuso, in a poem of Jacopone da Todi (before 1306): Ecco lo verno, che vene piovuso (“Here comes winter, which comes rainy”).^[13][12][8] The form piovoso is first found in the chronicle of Giovanni Villani (before 1348), who wrote of a spring and summer that were very rainy.^[13][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word described weather, seasons and places marked by frequent rain, and also clouds heavy with rain; by extension it was used of anything that pours out in drops or streams, and once as a noun for a wet place, in a figurative sense.^[8] The weather sense has stayed the main one: the modern dictionaries separate weather that brings or threatens rain from a region or season with abundant rain.^[5][3][9]

In 1797 the acts of the assemblies of the Cisalpine Republic used piovoso as the name of the French Republican month pluviôse.^[13] The noun is now a historical term.^[3][1]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses the form piovuso of the winter.^[13][8]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses piovoso.^[13]
• 1793 – The French month name pluviôse is created.^[12][11]
• 1797 – Piovoso names the French Republican month in the acts of the Cisalpine Republic.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bringing or threatening rain, rainy (of the weather or the sky): Una mattina piovosa e grigia.^[5][3][14]
2. Having heavy and frequent rain (of a region or a season): Il clima della costa è molto piovoso.^[5][3][15]

Noun

1. (historical) Pluviôse, the fifth month of the French Republican calendar, from about 20 January to about 18 February.^[5][3][14]

Word family

• piovosità

Related words

• piova
• pioggia
• piovere
• French pluviôse
• Latin pluviosus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
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. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
12. ^ 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, p. 13, 533
13. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse