polmone

Forms

polmone m (plural polmoni, diminutive polmoncino)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pulmō (“lung”).^[2][3][1] Nocentini counts it among the inherited words, with French poumon, Occitan polmon and Romanian plămîn, and notes that only Spanish pulmón is learned;^[2] DELI calls the Italian word learned.^[4] The dialects have Sicilian prumuni, Neapolitan premmone, Sardinian prumone and Friulian palmon.^[5] In southern Italy the word met a Greek πνεύμων (pneúmōn), which shaped the Calabrian forms.^[6] The Latin word also meant a jellyfish.^[2]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[7] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek πλεύμων (pleúmōn) and refers both to the root Proto-Indo-European *pleu- (“to float”), the lung being the organ that floats in the pleural fluid.^[2] De Vaan weighs a loan from the Greek word, with a metathesis, against an inherited adjective “the floating one”, since lungs float on water; both need a metathesis to give the Latin form.^[7] DEI thought it probably a loan from Greek, perhaps through Etruscan.^[6] Wiktionary gives *pléwmō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo, 1282, for the organ of breathing; in the Aristotelian medicine of the time the lungs were also thought to cool the body, being joined to the heart and the stomach.^[8] DELI's first date is Iacopone, before 1306;^[4] DEI notes that in Iacopone polmone means the stomach.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also linked the lung with the digestion of liquids and with the voice, and veterinarians used polmone for a tumour on a horse's back.^[8] Dante writes La lena m'era del polmon sì munta (“my breath was so drained from my lungs”).^[9]

The medical derivatives came later: polmonea before 1694 (Segneri) and polmonite, named on the model of bronchite, in 1871.^[4] The polmone d'acciaio, the iron lung, is recorded from 1949.^[6] Figurative uses are modern: green spaces that keep the air of a city fresh (1958) and whatever keeps a place or a business alive (1970).^[4] In football a polmone is a player of great stamina.^[3][10] The old figurative “feeble, spineless person” alludes to the slack lung of a slaughtered animal.^[11]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses polmone for the lung.^[8]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses it.^[4]
• 1549 – Mattioli names the plant polmonaria for its leaves spotted like a lung.^[4]
• Before 1694 – Segneri uses polmonea for pneumonia.^[4]
• 1871 – Tommaseo–Bellini record polmonite.^[4]
• 1949 – Polmone d'acciaio “iron lung” is recorded.^[6]
• 1958 – The sense “green area that renews the air” is recorded.^[4]
• 1970 – The Zingarelli records the sense “driving force”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) A lung, each of the two organs of breathing in the chest: Il fumo gli ha rovinato i polmoni.^{[3][11][10][12]}
2. (zoology) An organ for breathing air in other animals, including invertebrates.^[3][11][13]
3. The lung of a slaughtered animal as food; lights.^[3][10][13]
4. (technology) An elastic sealed metal element, or a device that acts on gases like a lung: polmone d'acciaio, iron lung.^[10][12][13]
5. (figurative) A green area that renews the air of a city: polmone verde.^[3][11][12]
6. (figurative) A driving force, a vital centre: Il porto è il polmone della città.^[3][11][10]
7. (sports) A player of great stamina.^[3][10]
8. (figurative) A feeble, spineless person; also an old car that runs badly.^[3][11][10]

Word family

• polmonare
• polmonite
• polmonaria
• polmonato
• spolmonarsi
• polmoncino

Related words

• Latin pulmō
• French poumon

Usage notes

Common phrases are a pieni polmoni, with all one's breath, avere buoni polmoni, to have a loud voice, and sputare i polmoni, to wear oneself out talking or running.^[3][12][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3005
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana