robbia

Forms

robbia f (plural robbie)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rubia (“madder”), properly “red”, with herba (“plant”) understood, because a red dye was made from the plant's roots.^[2][3][4][1] The adjective comes from Latin ruber (“red”).^[2][3][5] DELI writes the Latin vowel long, Nocentini, GRADIT and Zingarelli short.^[2][3][6][7] The same word is Spanish rubia, Portuguese ruiva and Romanian roibă.^[3][8][9]

De Vaan traces ruber to Proto-Italic *ruþro- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰ-ró- “red”, with cognates such as Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós, “red”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT, Nocentini and Zingarelli date the word before 1320.^[6][3][7] DELI's first example is in the merchant Pegolotti before 1347, for the herb whose ground roots gave a powder once used to dye things red;^[2] he writes that “madder should be thick, dry and heavy” (Robbia vuol essere grossa e secca e pesante).^[11]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the word also named the rootstock of the plant, which had uses in medicine and gave the red dye now known as alizarina.^[11][12] The Italian version of Crescenzi says that madder wants loose, rich soil (La robbia desidera terra soluta e grassa).^[11] The dye was used from antiquity for textile fibres and above all for hides and parchment, and with alum it gave the lasting red lacca di robbia.^[12] GRADIT records the sense “red dye” with D'Annunzio: tinsi con la robbia le criniere / dei miei cavalli “I dyed my horses' manes with madder”.^[6] Rubiacea, the name of the plant family, followed in 1929.^[3]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – Robbia is first recorded.^[6][3]
• Before 1347 – Pegolotti describes good madder for the trade.^[2]
• 1844 – A. de Candolle gives the name Robbia to a genus of South American plants.^[13]
• 1929 – Rubiacea is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. madder (Rubia tinctorum), a perennial herb with whorled leaves and a creeping rootstock, once grown for the red dye extracted from it; also called garanza.^[6][7][12]
2. The red dye extracted from the dried plant.^[6]
3. robbia peregrina: wild madder (Rubia peregrina), a climbing evergreen common in Mediterranean woods.^[14][7]

Word family

• rubiacea

Related words

• robbio
• Latin rubia
• Latin ruber

Usage notes

Robbia and garanza are synonyms.^[7][12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ 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. 17
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3272
14. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier