sanguinoso

Forms

sanguinoso (feminine sanguinosa, masculine plural sanguinosi, feminine plural sanguinose)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin sanguinōsus, from Latin sanguis (“blood”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} GRADIT glosses the Late Latin adjective “having too much blood”, and Zingarelli “sanguine”.^[3][6] Tommaseo cites it from Caelius Aurelianus.^[7]

The same Latin adjective gave Romanian sângeros, French saigneux, Old Occitan sancnos and Catalan sangonós.^[8][9] Meyer-Lübke marks Spanish sanguinoso and Portuguese sanguinoso as learned.^[8][9]

Latin sanguis comes from Proto-Italic *sangwen-.^[10][1] Its first part is the oblique stem Proto-Indo-European *h₁sh₂-én- of *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”), the source of Hittite ešḫar and Sanskrit असृज् (ásṛj); the second part is less certain.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, in the sense “full of blood, stained with blood”.^[11][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “stained with blood” is that of Boccaccio's colle mani ancor sanguinose (with his hands still bloody) and of Dante's sanguinosa bava (bloody slaver).^[7] From the 14th century, in the Collazione dei Santi Padri, the word also describes what happens with much bloodshed, as battles, victories and revenges, its main sense today.^[11][12][5]

The figurative sense “that causes great suffering” is in Annibal Caro before 1566,^[11] and modern Italian applies it to insults that wound deeply.^[3][4][5] In literary use it meant “bloodthirsty”, as in Guicciardini's un tiranno sanguinoso e bestiale.^[6][5] Heraldry uses it for an animal or part of one that drips blood.^[3][4] The obsolete sense “blood-red” survives in poetry.^[6][13]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses sanguinoso “stained with blood”.^[11][3]
• 14th century – The Collazione dei Santi Padri uses it of bloodshed.^[11]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for “causing great suffering”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Stained or covered with blood, bloodied; losing blood: un fazzoletto sanguinoso.^[3][4][6][1]
2. bloody, marked by much bloodshed, cruento: La rivolta fu sanguinosa.^{[3][4][12][6]}
3. (figurative) Deeply offensive, wounding: Gli rispose con una battuta sanguinosa.^{[3][4][12][5]}
4. (literary) Bloodthirsty, cruel.^{[3][4][6][13]}
5. (heraldry) Of an animal or part of one: dripping blood.^[3][4][5]
6. (obsolete, poetic) Blood-red, sanguigno.^[6][13]

Word family

• sanguinosamente
• sanguinosità

Related words

• sangue
• sanguinario
• sanguigno
• sanguinolento
• Latin sanguis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 h 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 c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli