punta

Forms

punta f (plural punte)^[1] An old form is Old Italian ponta, as in Guittone d'Arezzo.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin puncta (“a thrust with a point”), the feminine of punctus used as a noun, the past participle of Latin pungō (“to prick, sting”).^[5][6][7][1] DEI cites the late Latin noun from Vegetius in the sense “a thrust”, and Nocentini explains the sense “point” as a metonymy from it.^[4][6] The same word is French pointe, Occitan poncha, Catalan punta, Spanish punta and Portuguese ponta.^[6][8]

The Latin verb is a nasal present of Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“to prick”) according to Wiktionary, and de Vaan relates it to Ancient Greek πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist”).^[1][9] The masculine punto continues the related noun punctum.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, for the sharp, piercing end of something;^[5][7] GRADIT dates the word to before 1292.^[5][7] Guittone writes “Non è di lancia ponta, / né di tagliente spata / d'alcun nemico entrata” (“there is no point of a lance, nor entry of an enemy's sharp sword”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the word for a stab wound in “Poscia ch'io ebbi rotta la persona / di due punte mortali” (“after my body had been broken by two mortal thrusts”).^[10][11] The geographical senses follow in the 14th century: a small promontory in Matteo Villani (before 1363) and the sharp summit of a mountain in Ser Giovanni (1378–1385).^[5] Filarete uses the word for a fragment or tiny part before 1465, the source of the modern “a touch” (una punta d'ironia), and heraldry has it before 1748 for a triangle rising from the base of the shield.^[5][10]

From the 16th century DEI records punta for the sharp taste of wine turning sour and, in Berni, for a stabbing pain in the side, the mal di punta; the same sense, “pleurisy”, is found in Logudorese and Friulian.^[4][8][10] The sense “peak of a phenomenon” appears in 1942, from the points of a graph, and gave ora di punta, the rush hour.^[5][4] Football has punta for a striker.^[1] The engraving technique puntasecca is a calque of French pointe sèche (1765).^[5]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Date of first record in GRADIT.^[7]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses ponta for the point of a lance.^[5][2]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses the word for a small promontory.^[5]
• 1378–1385 – Ser Giovanni uses it for the summit of a mountain.^[5]
• Before 1465 – Filarete uses it for a fragment, a tiny part.^[5]
• Before 1748 – Pietro Giannone uses it as a term of heraldry.^[5]
• 1880 – Punta for the pointing of a hunting dog is recorded.^[6][7]
• 1942 – Migliorini records the sense “peak of a phenomenon”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. point, tip: the sharp end of an object, a weapon or a tool: Attento alla punta delle forbici!^[7][10][12]
2. The end of something, not necessarily sharp: Aveva la punta delle orecchie rossa dal freddo, camminare in punta di piedi, to walk on tiptoe.^[7][12][13]
3. The pointed summit of a mountain; a small promontory jutting into the sea.^[7][12]
4. (figurative) A small amount, a touch: Rispose con una punta di sarcasmo.^[10][14]
5. (figurative) The highest level or intensity of a phenomenon, ora di punta, the rush hour: In agosto il caldo ha toccato punte di quaranta gradi.^[13][14]
6. A drill bit or a pointed tool.^[12][1]
7. (football) A striker, forward.^[1]
8. (archaic) A wound from a pointed weapon, (uncommon) a stabbing pain.^[10][12][13]
9. (butchery) punta di petto, a cut of beef from the forequarter.^[7][12]

Word family

• puntale
• puntare
• puntata
• puntina
• punteruolo
• puntasecca
• spuntare
• appuntire
• puntone
• puntuto

Related words

• punto
• pungere
• French pointe
• Latin pungō

Usage notes

GRADIT, Nocentini and the GDLI give a separate punta derived from puntare (1880): the pointing of a hunting dog that has scented game, as in cane da punta, a pointer, and in gambling slang the players who place bets, as opposed to the bank.^[7][6][15] Common phrases include prendere di punta, to tackle head-on, avere sulla punta della lingua, to have on the tip of one's tongue, and ballare sulle punte, to dance on points.^[13][11][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14
3. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3149
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 964