prugna

Forms

prugna f (plural prugne)^[1] An old form is Old Italian prugnia.^[2] Northern forms include Lombard brigna, Emilian brugna and Veronese brogna.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *prūnea, the feminine of an adjective of Latin prūnus (“plum tree”).^[5][6][7][8] DELI and GRADIT cite Late Latin prūnia.^[5][9] Wiktionary sets beside it a Vulgar Latin *prūna, a feminine made from the neuter plural of prūnum (“plum”).^[1]

REW lists the outcomes of *prūnea in the dialects of Emilia, Verona and Lombardy and Portuguese abrunho “sloe”.^[10][3] The form *prūna gave French prune, Romanian prună and Catalan pruna.^[10]

The Latin plum, prūnum, is from Ancient Greek προῦμνον (proûmnon).^[11][1] Wiktionary takes prūnus from Ancient Greek προύνη (proúnē), a loan from a language of Asia Minor, and Zingarelli and the GDLI call the Latin word pre-Indo-European.^[1][12][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini, GRADIT and Zingarelli date the first record to before 1320.^[6][9][12] In the GDLI's first quotation, from Neri Moscoli, the poet longs for his meal “like a plum on the plum tree” (com’ prugna del pruno).^[2] DELI's first record is the vernacular Crescenzi, about 1350, where the word means the fruit of the plum tree.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The vernacular Crescenzi notes that plums give little nourishment (Le prugne poco nutriscono), and an anonymous Tuscan cookery book puts prugne secche, prunes, in a Saracen broth with dates and almonds.^[2][13] The tree, prugno, and the sloe, prugnola with its shrub prugnolo, are recorded at the same time.^[5][6]

In 19th-century Florence susina was the common word for the fresh fruit and prugne were dried ones.^[13] In speech prugna is still preferred for the dried fruit.^[8] The colour of the ripe fruit, a dark reddish purple, gave the word as an invariable adjective and noun.^[9][14][8] Prugna cinese is the lychee.^[12][9]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – Prugna and prugno are first recorded.^[6][9]
• c. 1350 – The vernacular Crescenzi has prugna, prugno, prugnola and prugnolo.^[5]
• 15th century – Prugnolo names a mushroom whose smell recalls the plum.^[6][3]
• 1875 – Pruina, the waxy bloom on plums, is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plum, the fruit of the plum tree, also called susina: una crostata di prugne.^[9][14][8]
2. (plural, prugne secche) Prunes, dried plums.^[14][15][8]
3. (masculine, invariable) The colour of the plum, a dark reddish purple.^[9][14][15]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after a noun) Plum-coloured: una giacca prugna.^[9][12][7]

Word family

• prugno
• prugnola
• prugnolo

Related words

• pruno
• susina
• Latin prunum
• French prune

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 14, 829
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3124
4. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 808
5. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse