ruggine

Forms

ruggine f (plural ruggini)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin aerūgō (“verdigris, rust”), from its accusative aerūginem, with the loss of the first syllable.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The /g/ was doubled after the stress, as is normal in words stressed on the third syllable from the end.^[5] The Latin word meant first “verdigris”, the patina of copper and bronze: it is derived from aes (“copper, bronze”) with the collective suffix of ferrūgō and lānūgō.^[2][5][3] Latin already used it, in Horace, for spite or envy.^[2]

Outside Italy the word survives only in Romanian rugină and in the Lower Engadine ruìna.^[6][3] DEI counts it a word of the Romanian, Italian and Sardinian area.^[7] Spanish orín goes back to Vulgar Latin *aurigĭnem, remade on aurum (“gold”).^[3][8] In the north and south of Italy a shortened base gives forms like ruzo, and DEI records a southern type ruggia or ruzza.^[6][7] In Friulian, Venetian, Trentino and Lombard the noun is masculine.^[7] The 16th-century erugine is a learned borrowing of the same Latin word.^[6]

De Vaan derives aes from Proto-Italic *ajos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ei-os (“bronze”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni's Della miseria dell'uomo, before 1292, for the hydrated iron oxide that forms on iron in damp air.^[2][4] Zingarelli dates the word to about 1261.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The Latin senses “rust”, “rust of grain” and “envy” all continued.^[6] The plant disease is recorded about 1340 in the Italian Palladio, and the figurative “ill will, rancour” in the 14th century, in a translation of Saint Augustine.^[2] Dante speaks of false arguments of which “no rust should remain in the mind” (nulla ruggine rimanga nella mente), the obsolete sense of a thought that clouds judgement.^[11][10] DEI dates “moral filth” to the 14th century and “dirt on the skin” to Ariosto.^[7]

Boccaccio and Boiardo used ruggine as an adjective, which Berni corrected to rugginoso.^[7] Pere ruggini, pears with russet skin, are already in the Crescenzi translation, and Tommaseo records the Tuscan proverb Chi si frega al ferro, gli s'appicca la ruggine (“whoever rubs against iron gets rust on him”), said of bad company.^[12] The colour name is dated 1804.^[2]

Timeline

• About 1261 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[10]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ruggine for rust.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Rugginoso appears in the Novellino.^[2]
• About 1340 – The Italian Palladio uses the word for a disease of plants.^[2]
• 14th century – The figurative sense “rancour” is recorded.^[2]
• 16th century – The learned erugine is recorded.^[6]
• 1804 – D'Alberti records ruggine as a colour.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. rust: the reddish-brown crumbly layer of iron oxides that forms on iron exposed to damp air or water.^[4][11][13]
2. (figurative) A deep-rooted grudge or resentment between people: Fra i due soci c'è ancora della ruggine.^[4][11][13]
3. (plant pathology) Rust, a disease of plants caused by parasitic fungi that form rust-coloured pustules: ruggine del grano.^[4][11][14]
4. (masculine, invariable) The colour of rust, between dark red and brown.^[4][11][13]
5. A variety of pear or apple with a russet skin.^[4][11]
6. (archaic) A surface layer of dirt.^[4][11]
7. (archaic, figurative) A mistaken thought that clouds judgement.^[4][11][10]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after the noun) rust-coloured; of fruit, with a russet skin: una sciarpa ruggine;^[4][11][14] mele ruggine.^[4][11][14]

Word family

• rugginoso
• rugginosità
• arrugginire
• dirugginire
• antiruggine
• disrugginire
• irrugginire
• rugginire
• srugginire

Related words

• erugine
• Latin aerūgō
• Latin aes

Usage notes

As the name of a colour the word is masculine (il ruggine).^[4][11][13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1115
7. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3295
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana