rufo

Forms

rufo (feminine rufa, masculine plural rufi, feminine plural rufe)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin rūfus (“red, tawny, red-haired”).^[2][3][4][1] DEI also considers that it may be, with Catalan ruf “red”, the only Romance survival of the Latin adjective, and REW cites a dialect noun rufo “mange of dogs” from southern Lazio and northern Campania.^[5][6]

In Latin rūfus was itself a loan from a Sabellic language: the ⟨f⟩ between vowels shows the Sabellic treatment of Proto-Italic ⟨*þ⟩, and Umbrian has rofu.^[7][1] It goes back to Proto-Italic *rouðos and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”), the root of Latin ruber, and is cognate with Lithuanian raũdas (“reddish”) and Old Irish rúad (“red”).^[7][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record to the end of the 13th century and Zingarelli to the 13th century;^[4][2][5] DEI has the 16th.^[4][2][5] An Old Italian Bible translation has Esau call Jacob's lentil stew questa cosa cotta rufa, “this red cooked thing”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Ottimo commentary on Dante describes one person as ruffo and another as black-haired, after the colour of their hair.^[3][9] In the 16th century Lodovico Dolce distinguished it from rubro: rufo is a colour not fully red, drawing towards yellow and white.^[3][9] It is now obsolete.^[4][2]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – First record.^[4]
• 16th century – Dolce defines rufo as a red that tends to yellow.^[9][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (obsolete) reddish, tawny; of hair or beard, reddish-tawny.^[4][2][3]

Related words

• rubro
• rosso
• Latin rūfus

Usage notes

Rufo is also an Italian given name and surname, from the Latin name Rūfus.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3294
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)