resinoso

Forms

resinoso (feminine resinosa, masculine plural resinosi, feminine plural resinose)^[1] An old variant is rasinoso.^[2]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin rēsīnōsus (“abounding in resin”), formed on rēsīna (“resin”).^{[3][4][5][6][2][7]} Wiktionary adds a surface analysis within Italian, by which it is from Italian resina + -oso.^[1]

According to DELI, the Latin noun, like Ancient Greek ῥητίνη (rhētínē), is a loan from a non-Indo-European language.^[3] Nocentini thinks Latin and Greek took it independently from a source that has not been identified.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Ricettario fiorentino, which it dates 1499–1573, with the sense “made of resin, having the qualities of resin”.^[3] The passage says of a drug that it contiene in sé un certo che di liquore resinoso (“contains something of a resinous liquid”).^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Early modern pharmacy used the word for gums and balsams: Briganti calls a kind of lac rasinosa e secca (“resinous and dry”), and Auda describes the best storax as grassa e resinosa (“oily and resinous”).^[2][8]

In 19th-century physics elettricità resinosa was negative static electricity, the kind that resinous bodies take on when rubbed with wool.^[8][6][9] Mineralogists speak of lucentezza resinosa, the lustre of natural resins also shown by some minerals such as sulphur.^[9] In botany and forestry the word is used of trees that yield resin, such as many conifers, and of the woods they form.^[9][5]

Timeline

• 1499–1573 – The Ricettario fiorentino uses the word.^[3]
• Before 1557 – Zingarelli's date for the word.^[6]
• 16th century – Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date it to this century.^[4][10]
• 1573 – GRADIT's date of first record.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or typical of resin (resina): il profumo resinoso della pineta.^[5][10][11]
2. Containing resin, or like resin in its properties: una vernice resinosa.^[5][10][12]
3. Of a tree, yielding resin; of a wood, made up of resin-yielding trees, especially conifers.^[5][10][12]
4. (physics, dated) elettricità resinosa: negative electricity, as produced by rubbing resin.^[10][6][9]

Related words

• resina
• resinato
• resinifero
• Latin resinosus

Usage notes

Tommaseo also records resinoso as a noun in chemistry, for a liquid obtained by distilling ragia with lime.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b 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. 15, 863
3. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana