rosmarino

Forms

rosmarino m (plural rosmarini)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian rosmarin, Old Italian osmarin, Old Italian osmerino and Old Italian smarrino.^[2] Tuscan has ramerino, and the Venetian form is osmarin.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rosmarīnus (“rosemary”), a word of Pliny, also written separately as rōs marīnus in Columella, or marīnus rōs, and rōs maris in Ovid.^[5][6][1] It means literally “sea dew”, from rōs (“dew”) and marīnus (“of the sea”), in contrast with a rōs terrae (“earth dew”).^[5][7][1] The plant was so called because it grows on sea coasts, as Mattia Roseo already explained.^[5][4] Nocentini takes the first part differently, as an adaptation of the Greek name of the sumac, referring to the fragrant resin both plants give, but the other sources keep the sense “dew”.^[4][5][8]

Once the name was no longer understood it was reshaped in many ways: after rosa (⟨rosamarina⟩, common in the south), after ramo (the Tuscan ramerino), and after the prefix ⟨trans-⟩, with forms in ⟨tres-⟩ in central Italy; osmarino (1483) lost the first sound.^[5][9][4] The other Romance languages have French romarin, Occitan romarin, Catalan romaní, Spanish romero and Portuguese rosmaninho.^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo in 1282, naming the aromatic shrub.^[2] DELI dates the word to a 14th-century translation of Pietro Ispano, and Tuscan ramerino appears early too, in the translation of Crescenzi.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the same plant, valued for its aroma and for medicine.^[2][6] In the poems of Antonio Cammelli the gardener plants sage, wormwood and rosemary (salvia ci mette, ascenzio e rosmarino).^[7] Today the leaves flavour roasts and focaccia, and the flowers give an essential oil used in perfumery and pharmacy.^[6][11] The name also covers the genus Rosmarinus and its species, which grow in dry, rocky places near the sea.^[6][12]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses rosmarino.^[2]
• 14th century – A translation of Pietro Ispano has the word.^[5]
• 1483 – The variant osmarino is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), an evergreen aromatic shrub of the Labiate, with needle-like leaves and blue or whitish flowers.^[6][11][12]
2. The leaves of this plant used as a herb in cooking: patate arrosto con aglio e rosmarino.^[6][12]
3. (botany) With a capital: the genus Rosmarinus.^[6][12]

Word family

• rosmarinato

Related words

• ramerino
• osmarino
• rosa
• marino
• rugiada
• Latin rosmarinus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
4. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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, 105
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3285
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b 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 d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse