rugliare

Forms

rugliare (first-person singular present rùglio, first-person singular past historic rugliài, past participle rugliàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Italian ruggire (“to roar”) + mugliare (“to low, bellow”), a blend.^{[2][3][1][4][5]} Meyer-Lübke, Battisti and Alessio, and Devoto explain it the same way, as ruggire crossed with mugliare, and DEI points to rugghiare beside it, a relation like that of vegghia and vegliare.^[6][7][8] The noun ruglio is a back-formation from the verb.^[2]

Another view goes back to Giovanni Flechia (1876), who set up Vulgar Latin *rugulāre, formed on rūgere, a variant of Latin rugiō (“to roar”).^[2][6] Pieri accepted it in the 1890s, noting that the word had lived on in spoken Tuscan while the literary language preferred the archaic and poetic form with ⟨gghi⟩.^[2] Alessio later defended the formation as regular and pointed to southern derivatives, although no old record of the Latin verb's continuants exists.^[2] Nocentini follows this explanation: for him rugliare is the Tuscan outcome of this Vulgar Latin verb beside the form with ⟨gghi⟩, in the same way as the pair formed by mugghiare and its variant.^[9] Meyer-Lübke judged such a Latin base unnecessary.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the first record before 1543, in the extended sense “to make a dull, continuous noise”.^[3][10] DELI's earliest dated records are later: 1808, in Filippo Pananti, for the rumbling of natural elements, and 1863, in Fanfani's Tuscan vocabulary, for the low, threatening growl of animals.^[2] Tommaseo, following Fanfani, describes the dull growl of a dog when it is angry or threatened, and the roar of the sea in a storm in Pananti.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed mainly Tuscan and popular.^[4][12] Pieri remarked in the 1890s that it was alive in the spoken language, while writers used rugghiare.^[2] Its core sense is the growl of large animals such as the bear or the dog, and by extension it is used of wind, torrents and other natural forces, and even of people: Pascoli heard two torrents and a river rugliare in piena (“rumble in flood”).^[10][13][14] Calvino wrote of uneasy dogs that rugliavano, and Pirandello of a deep cough that broke out rugliando between wheezes.^[14]

The noun ruglio, the act of growling, may appear before 1557 in Ramusio, but the meaning of that record is uncertain.^[2] In the Pisan dialect it was recorded in 1902 for a flock of birds making a great noise as they sing.^[2] Nocentini dates the noun to 1895.^[9]

Timeline

• Before 1543 – First record, in the sense “to make a dull, continuous noise”.^[3][10]
• Before 1557 – Ruglio may appear in Ramusio, with an uncertain sense.^[2]
• 1808 – Filippo Pananti uses rugliare of the noise of natural elements.^[2]
• 1863 – Fanfani's Tuscan vocabulary records the growl of animals.^[2]
• 1876 – Giovanni Flechia proposes a Vulgar Latin *rugulare.^[2]
• 1895 – Ruglio is recorded.^[9]
• 1902 – Pisan ruglio is recorded for the noise of a flock of singing birds.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, of animals such as the bear or the dog) To growl in a low, menacing way.^[3][4][5]: Il cane rugliava davanti al cancello.^[3][4]
2. (by extension, also figurative) To make a dull, continuous rumble, of the wind, a torrent or other natural forces.^{[3][4][15][1]}: Il torrente ruglia sotto il ponte.^[3][4]

Word family

• ruglio
• rugliamento

Related words

• ruggire
• mugliare
• rugghiare
• Latin rugiō

Usage notes

Devoto–Oli marks the verb as popular and regional Tuscan, and Sabatini–Coletti as uncommon.^[4][15] The Vocabolario Treccani refers to the variant rogliare.^[14]

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 l m n 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3295
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse