pometo

Forms

pometo m (plural pometi)^[1] The TLIO also records the old form Old Italian pomieto.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin pōmētum (“orchard”), a learned word according to Zingarelli and the GDLI.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The Latin word is recorded in Palladius.^[8][9] It is formed from Latin pōmus (“fruit tree”) with the suffix -ētum (“grove”).^[10][1][11] Wiktionary also allows a formation in Italian from pomo with the suffix -eto.^[1]

The Late Latin word also continues in Romanian pomet.^[1][12][13]

The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^[14] De Vaan suggests a compound meaning “taken off, picked”, from the prefix *po-* and the root of emō (“to take”);^[14][1] Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *h₂po-h₁ém-os “taken off”.^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Tuscan translation of Palladius's treatise on agriculture from the first half of the 14th century, with the sense “plantation of fruit trees”.^[2] DELI dates the word from 1564, in Pietro Lauro, and calls the date of the passage by Maestro Piero da Reggio that the dictionaries cite uncertain.^[15]

Semantic evolution

Lauro's agricultural text advises closing the pometo with a dry wall or a ditch so that neither people nor animals can enter until the trees have grown.^[4][9] Tommaseo treats it as a term of agriculture, the same as pomario.^[9] The GDLI adds that it refers in particular to an orchard of pome fruits, and quotes 19th-century writers such as Giuseppe Montani and Giovita Scalvini.^[4] Today it is rare, beside the usual frutteto.^[6][7][16]

Timeline

• First half of the 14th century – a Tuscan translation of Palladius has pometo, also spelt pomieto.^[2]
• 1564 – Pietro Lauro uses pometo.^[15][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (uncommon) An orchard, a plantation of fruit trees, especially of apples and other pome fruits; the same as frutteto and pomario.^{[6][7][17][4]}

Related words

• pomo
• pomario
• frutteto
• Latin pōmus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3009
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
15. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli