puleggio

puleggio¹ pennyroyal

Pronunciation

• /puˈled.d͡ʒo/^[1]

Forms

puleggio m (plural puleggi)^[1] Old forms include poleggio, pulegio, puleo and puleiu.^[2] The variant pulegio comes from the scientific Latin name.^[3]

Etymology

The word for pennyroyal is inherited from Latin pūlēium, also written pūlēgium.^{[2][4][5][3][1]} The Romance forms go back to the form with ⟨u⟩ in the first syllable, which DEI says they require.^[6][7] The word is Old French pouli (modern French pouliot), Occitan poleg, Spanish poleo and Portuguese poejo.^[4][7] From Latin it passed into Old High German polei, the source of German Polei.^[4][6]

Nocentini and DEI compare the Greek name of the plant, Ancient Greek βλήχων (blḗkhōn), and Nocentini concludes that the Latin and Greek words were borrowed in parallel from a pre-Latin Mediterranean language, as names of wild plants often were.^[4][6] Zingarelli and GDLI also call the Latin word pre-Indo-European.^[5][8] Wiktionary instead derives it from pūlex (“flea”), because the plant was used to keep fleas away.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine translation of the Antidotarium Nicolai from the end of the 13th century, followed by Bartolomeo da San Concordio (1302–1308), for the herb Mentha pulegium.^[2] Bartolomeo writes that in India lo poléggio is dearer than pepper, because what is rare is more desired.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use the herb in medicine: the Italian translation of Crescenzi calls it hot and dry in the third degree, to be gathered in flower and dried in the shade.^[8][9] A commentary on Dioscorides quoted by Tommaseo says that both kinds of pulegio grew all over Tuscany.^[9] Today it is the common name of the plant, also called mentuccia.^[3][8]

Timeline

• Late 1200s – A Florentine Antidotarium Nicolai names the herb.^[2]
• 1302–1308 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses poléggio.^[2][8]
• 1300s – Pietro de' Crescenzi's Italian translation describes puleggio.^[6][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), a perennial mint with small leaves and pink or white flowers, common in ditches and grassy places; mentuccia.^[3][5][2][1]

puleggio² course, passage

Pronunciation

• /puˈled.d͡ʒo/^[1]

Forms

puleggio m (plural puleggi)^[1] Also pulezzo.^[4][3][1]

Etymology

The word for the course or passage is from Italian pileggio (“sea crossing, navigation”), an older form recorded before 1321.^[4][2][3] Nocentini derives the older word from Latin pelagus (“sea”) through a hypothetical *pelagiāre (“to put to sea”).^[4] The TLIO also takes it from the Latin word, through altered forms of the type ⟨*pelagiu⟩ and ⟨*peligiu⟩.^[2] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πέλαγος (pélagos, “sea”).^[10][4]

DEI proposed instead Vulgar Latin *pylidium, a diminutive of pyla, from πύλη (púlē, “gate, pass, strait”), spread from the upper Adriatic.^[11] The TLIO finds this unlikely, for reasons of meaning and because nothing else in the vocabulary or in place names supports it.^[2] GRADIT, Treccani and Gabrielli call the origin uncertain.^[12][3][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's only Old Italian record is in a western Tuscan songbook of 1369, where the sense is unclear, perhaps “journey” or its toil.^[2] GRADIT dates the sense “course, route” to before 1470.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Pileggio meant open sea and a sea crossing between two ports.^[2][12] The u form survived mainly in set phrases about leaving: Luigi Pulci in the 15th century has pigliare il puleggio “to make off”, and Petrocchi records prendere il pulezzo.^[11][14] The verbs spulezzare and spuleggiare “to take to one's heels” are recorded in Pulci and Ariosto.^[14][11] Treccani notes the phrases are now rare and limited to parts of Tuscany.^[3]

Timeline

• Before 1321 – The older form pileggio is recorded.^[4][12]
• 1369 – A western Tuscan songbook has puleggio.^[2]
• 1400s – Luigi Pulci uses pigliare il puleggio.^[11]
• Before 1470 – GRADIT's date for the sense “course”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Tuscany, rare) course, route (rotta); a form of pileggio.^[12][3][1]
2. (Tuscany) In set phrases: pigliare il puleggio or prendere il puleggio, to make off, leave;^[12][3][4] dare il puleggio, to send someone away.^[12][3][4]

Word family

• spuleggiare
• spulezzare