prua

Forms

prua f (plural prue)^[1] Old and literary forms are proa and prova.^[2]

Etymology

It is a dialect outcome of Latin prōra (“prow”), with the second /r/ lost by dissimilation.^[3][4][5] Nocentini and the Devoto–Oli take it as borrowed from Ligurian prua, and Devoto and Merlo also held it to be Genoese.^[3][6][7][4] Bertoni objected that the forms without /r/ are older than the 16th and 17th centuries, when Genoese began to lose /r/ between vowels; he held that the Greek word spread first along the southern coasts and that the form reflects the speech of southern sailors.^[4] Wiktionary, the Treccani and the Sabatini–Coletti also think of a southern dialect, and the word is Sicilian prua in Sicily.^{[1][8][9][10]} Merlo noted that in Tuscany too the Latin word could lose its /r/ and reach this form by regular sound change.^[4] Meyer-Lübke rejects the Genoese starting point for the same reason of dates and sees a distant dissimilation that took place separately in several areas: proda, Venetian prova, Occitan proa (whence French proue), Catalan proa, Spanish proa and Portuguese proa.^[10][11]

The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek πρῷρα (prōîra).^[1][12] The Sabatini–Coletti derives the Greek word from πρό (pró, “before”), and Wiktionary from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go forth, cross”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form Medieval Latin proa is recorded at Marseille in 1248.^[4][2] The first Italian record is proa in the Anonimo genovese, before 1311: Tegnando proa contra vento / enver' l'oste veniciana “keeping the prow against the wind, towards the Venetian fleet”.^[4][3][13] The DEI dates the word to Cielo d'Alcamo in the 13th century, but Prati and Bertoni point out that Cielo has proda.^[14][4]

Semantic evolution

The form prua appears before 1470 in Pulci.^[4][11] Tommaseo quotes the Ciriffo Calvaneo: E tra prua e mezz'albero gli pone.^[15] The verb prueggiare, to head into the sea at low speed, is recorded before 1645.^[4]

In the 20th century the word passed to aircraft, for the nose of a seaplane or airship and for the heading of an aircraft.^[5][8] The phrase mettere la prua addosso once meant the ramming manoeuvre of a ship and is now used for persecuting someone.^[8]

Timeline

• 1248 – Medieval Latin proa is recorded at Marseille.^[4]
• Before 1311 – Proa in the Anonimo genovese.^[3][4]
• Before 1470 – The form prua in Pulci.^[4]
• Before 1645 – Prueggiare is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) The bow or prow of a ship or boat; prora: Il mozzo stava seduto a prua.^{[5][6][9][16]}
2. (aeronautics) The nose of a seaplane, airship or aircraft.^[5][6][16]
3. (nautical, aeronautics) The heading of a ship or aircraft, the angle between a reference direction and its axis: prua magnetica.^[16][5][17]

Word family

• prueggiare
• prueggio
• appruare

Related words

• prora
• proda
• Latin prōra

Usage notes

Prua and prora are synonyms, but for the direction of a ship prora is more common.^[8] Mettere la prua al vento is to turn the ship towards the wind.^[16][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 823
14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3124
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana