rondine

Forms

rondine f (plural rondini)^[1] The literary variant is irondine.^[2][1] Old forms include Old Italian rondina, Old Italian róndene, Old Italian réndena and Old Italian rùndena.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin hirundō (“swallow”), from its accusative, with the loss of the initial ⟨hi-⟩.^[6][7][1] Nocentini starts from a Vulgar Latin *arundĭne(m) in place of the classical form.^[8] A late Latin list of spelling corrections, the Appendix Probi, warns against giving the swallow the form of the word for “reed”, and Körting suggests that the word for harundo (“reed”) was used for the swallow in popular Latin.^[9][10]

Outside Italy, only Sardinian rùndine and Old French aronde continue the simple word; the other Romance languages use diminutives: French hirondelle, Occitan irondela, Catalan orenella, Spanish golondrina, Portuguese andorinha and Romanian rândunică.^[8][10] In the Italian dialects too, except in Tuscany, diminutives prevail, though Sicilian rinnina, Neapolitan rénnene and Vegliote rondaina continue the plain word.^[3][10]

The origin of the Latin word is obscure.^[6][8] Walde and Hofmann, followed by Devoto, thought it imitative and compared hirriō (“to snarl”), though de Vaan notes that the suffix is still unexplained.^[11][12][13] Lockwood took the forked tail as the motive and connected an earlier *herundō with the word for “reed”, but de Vaan finds no proof that the reed word could mean a forked stick.^[11][1] Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek χελιδών (khelīdṓn, “swallow”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bono Giamboni before 1292: “the swallow is a small bird, but it flies in turns, and it takes its food flying and not perching” (Rondina è uno piccolo uccello, ma ella vola alla volta diversamente e la sua pastura prende volando e non posando).^[6][4][5] The place name Rondine is found in Tuscany from 1178.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Dante cites the proverb una rondine non fa primavera “one swallow does not make a spring” from Aristotle's Ethics; it was current in ancient Greece and is still used in modern Greek.^[6] The diminutive rondinella goes back to Dante (1313–1319), rondinino “young swallow” to San Bernardino of Siena (1427), and an earlier example in the Crusca dictionary was a forgery by Francesco Redi.^[6]

The rondone “swift” is recorded about 1350.^[6][8] DELI hesitates between Alessio's analogical Latin form in -ōne and a popular association with rondine, and rejects a derivation from rondare, which is recorded two centuries later.^[6][8] Tasso (before 1595) used rondine for a slender fish-eating bird with a long thin beak.^[6] The saying San Benedetto, la rondine sotto il tetto marks the swallows' return around 21 March.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1178 – The place name Rondine is recorded in Tuscany.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the word.^[6]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses rondinella.^[6]
• c. 1350 – Rondone “swift” appears in the Italian version of Crescenzi.^[6]
• 1427 – San Bernardino of Siena uses rondinino.^[6]
• Before 1595 – Tasso uses rondine for a fish-eating sea bird.^[6]
• 1872 – Tommaseo–Bellini records rondinotto.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. swallow, the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), with dark back, white belly and forked tail: le rondini sono già partite per l'Africa.^{[7][14][2][1]}
2. (zoology) The common name of many birds of the swallow family, Hirundinidae.^[7][14][15]
3. (zoology) In rondine di mare: the common tern (Sterna hirundo); also the flying gurnard.^[14][2][15]
4. (zoology) In pesce rondine: the flying fish.^[7][16]
5. (figurative) A symbol of airy lightness.^[14]

Word family

• rondinella
• rondinino
• rondinotto
• rondone
• rondinetta

Related words

• irondine
• Latin hirundo
• French hirondelle

Usage notes

The proverb una rondine non fa primavera means that one good sign does not make a rule.^[2][16] A coda di rondine “swallow-tailed” describes things ending in two points, such as the Ghibelline battlement or a tailcoat.^[2][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3281
4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 82
5. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli