rena

Forms

rena f (countable and uncountable, plural rene)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin (h)arēna (“sand”), with the loss of the first vowel.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The usual explanation is that ⟨l’arena⟩ was heard as ⟨la rena⟩, the article taking the vowel: GRADIT calls it a wrong division of the definite article, and the LEI an aphaeresis by fusion with the feminine article.^[7][8][1] The full form arena lives on beside it.^[2][3] DELI treats the full form in the sense “sand” as a learned word, while Nocentini lists the two forms under one inherited head.^[2][3]

The Latin word survives across Romance: Old French areine, Old Occitan arena, Catalan arena, Spanish arena, Portuguese areia, Sardinian rena and Romanian arină.^[3][9][8] In the Italian dialects its descendants prevail in Liguria and in the whole stretch between Tuscany and the far south, Sicily included, while the north uses words from sabulum (“coarse sand”).^[8] Latin kept the two apart as coarse and fine sand.^[8]

De Vaan finds no etymology for the Latin noun.^[10] Varro records variant spellings, and a Sabine form with ⟨f-⟩ points to an older *hasēna without rhotacism, which Wiktionary suggests may be Etruscan.^[10][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record before 1249, and Nocentini places it in the early 13th century.^[7][3] DELI's first dated example is in Bono Giamboni's Vizi e virtù, before 1292, with the sense “sand”.^[2] Giamboni writes elsewhere that good water, when boiled in a small copper pot, leaves neither mud nor sand at the bottom (non fa limo né rena in fondo).^[11]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses rena for the burning sand of Hell (la rena arsiccia) and for the sands of Libya (Più non si vanti Libia con sua rena), whence the literary sense “desert”.^[11][7][5] Petrarch's line e 'n rena fondo, e scrivo in vento (“and I build on sand, and write on the wind”) shows the figurative use that survives in fondare or costruire sulla rena, to build on unsound ground.^[12][7][4]

Tommaseo called rena the Florentine form, which is why the trade name is renaiolo and not arenaiolo.^[13] Derivatives appeared early: renaiuolo, a man who digs and carts sand, in 1342.^[2] Renella, gravel in the kidneys, in the 14th century; and renoso “sandy” about 1350.^[2] The medical sense “kidney stone” goes back to Medieval Latin of the 7th century.^[8] In 1826 Vincenzo Monti wrote a long note on the wavering between arena and rena and between arenare and arrenare, preferring the forms with a-.^[2]

Today the aphetic form is common in the language of the trades and in Tuscan usage, and literary elsewhere.^[12][5] In the ceramics industry it names a siliceous earth.^[4][5] Gabrielli records buttare via i quattrini come rena, to squander money, and portare rena al lido, to do something pointless.^[6]

Timeline

• Before 1249 – first record according to GRADIT.^[7]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses rena “sand” in Vizi e virtù.^[2]
• 1342 – renaiuolo, a sand digger, appears in the statutes of Perugia.^[2]
• 14th century – renella “gravel in the kidneys” is recorded in a medical text.^[2]
• c. 1350 – renoso “sandy” appears in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.^[2]
• 1826 – Vincenzo Monti discusses arena and rena and prefers arena.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. sand, especially sand taken from a river, the sea or a quarry for building: Il muratore ha scaricato la rena nel cortile.^[7][4][12]
2. (literary) A beach or sandy shore.^[5]
3. (figurative) An unstable foundation, in costruire or fondare sulla rena, to build on sand.^[7][4]
4. (literary, by extension) A sandy desert.^[7][5][6]
5. (ceramics) A siliceous earth used as an ingredient in some kinds of ceramics.^[7][4][5]

Word family

• renaiolo
• renaio
• renella
• renoso
• renaccio
• reniccio
• renischio

Related words

• arena
• arenare
• sabbia

Usage notes

Wiktionary marks the word as literary or dialectal (Rome); the ordinary word for sand is sabbia.^[1][4] The GDLI has a separate rena that is only a variant of reni “kidneys”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1031
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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. 15, 796
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET