ragno

Forms

ragno m (plural ragni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin arāneus (“spider”), with the loss of the first vowel.^[2][3][4][1] Latin had both the masculine and the feminine arānea: the masculine is the old word for the animal, while the feminine first meant the web and was used for the spider only from Catullus in poetry and Fronto in prose.^[2][5] The commentator Servius noted that the ancients called the animal by the masculine and the webs by the feminine.^[6] Italian keeps both, with ragna “cobweb; net” from the feminine.^[3][2] Most other Romance languages continue the feminine: Old French araigne (now French araignée), Occitan aranha, Catalan aranya, Spanish araña and Portuguese aranha.^[3] The masculine survives in Friulian ragn and Romansh aragn.^[6][7]

Outside Latin the word is found only in Ancient Greek ἀράχνη (arákhnē, “spider”).^[2][5] De Vaan considers it possibly borrowed from the Greek word, with Greek ⟨khn⟩ taken as ⟨gn⟩ and the velar then lost with lengthening of the vowel, but notes that Greek ⟨khm⟩ gave Latin ⟨cum⟩ in other loans;^[5] Latin and Greek may instead have borrowed it independently from a common source.^[5] DELI also allows a borrowing from Greek or from an unknown language, and Nocentini thinks the loan came with the myth of Arachne.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are 13th-century: the northern Proverbia super natura feminarum, where “the spider makes little nets for the flies” (Lo ragno per le mosche fase le redesele), and a Tuscan bestiary with a chapter “on the nature of the spider”.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Old northern forms include Milanese aragnio in Bonvesin (before 1315) and Genoese aragno; the LEI dates standard ragno from Pandolfini (1446), and aragno was still in use at the end of the 15th century.^[6] The little aragni of Boccaccio (1341–42) are silkworms.^[2] In old usage ragno could also mean the web, while ragna could mean the spider in Dante.^[9][2] In the dialects the DEI finds the type aragn in the north, Ligurian gnagna by assimilation, telaragno in eastern Piedmont, and tarantola in Apulia, Calabria and Sicily.^[9]

Latin arāneus also named the weever fish in Pliny, and ragno and pesce ragno are fish names along the Adriatic;^[6][9] Pulci uses it in the 15th century.^[6][9] The web is ragnatela (first half of the 14th century), with the older ragnatelo;^[3][2] ragnatela is Segneri's in 1686.^[3][2] The figurative non cavare un ragno dal buco means to get nothing done.^[10][11] Modern technical senses name things with long legs or radiating parts: a camera mount, an elastic luggage strap with hooks, a skimmer for fried food, a crane grab.^[4][10]

Timeline

• 13th century – The Proverbia super natura feminarum and a Tuscan bestiary have ragno.^[2][8]
• Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva writes Milanese aragnio.^[6]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses aragni for silkworms.^[2]
• First half of the 14th century – Ragnatela is recorded.^[3]
• 1446 – Pandolfini uses ragno.^[6]
• 1686 – Segneri uses the form ragnatela.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) A spider, an arachnid with eight legs and glands that spin the thread of its web (ragnatela).^{[4][11][12][1]}
2. (figurative) A thin person with long, spindly limbs; also a skilled climber.^[4][11]
3. (cinema) A short three-legged mount on which the camera is fixed.^{[10][12][4][1]}
4. An elastic strap with hooks for holding luggage on a roof rack.^[4]
5. A wire skimmer for lifting fried food.^[4][1]
6. (regional) The weever (tracina); in Tuscany, the sea bass (spigola).^[4][13]
7. A fishing net like the tartana; the grab on a crane's arm; in lace, threads radiating from a centre; a patience game for two packs.^[4][1]

Word family

• ragnatela
• toporagno
• ragnetto
• ragnolo
• ragnesco
• ragnoso

Related words

• ragna
• aracnide
• Latin arāneus
• French araignée

Usage notes

Non cavare un ragno dal buco is a fixed idiom for failing to achieve anything.^[10][11][14] Uomo ragno is a circus contortionist, and pesce ragno the weever.^[10][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 704
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3199
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli