santoreggia

Forms

santoreggia f (plural santoregge)^[1] Old forms include sanctoreggia, santoregia and saturegia.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin saturēia (“savory”), altered in popular use.^[4][5][6] GRADIT, Zingarelli, Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti, DEI and the GDLI explain the first syllables by the influence of santo or of sanità or santità “health”, because of the plant's medicinal properties.^{[7][8][9][10][3][2]} The Latin word is also the source of the learned satureia.^[4][5]

The Latin word was altered in many ways on its way into the Romance languages: Old French savoree, French sarriette, Occitan sadreia, Catalan sajolida and Portuguese segurelha.^[5][11] By contrast, Spanish ajedrea came through Arabic.^[5] The Italian dialects have many forms too, such as satureddu in Sicily and Milanese segrigiöla.^[11][3]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[12][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the word before 1320.^[7][8] DELI's first record is in the translation of Crescenzi, about 1350, which says that savory “is hot and dry in the second degree” and is sown in December, February and March.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian texts treat savory as a garden herb, flower and medicine: the translation of Palladius mixes it into wine, and Landino's Pliny glosses timbra as santoreggia.^[2][13] Tommaseo calls it a fragrant herb that aids digestion and is used in sauces.^[13]

Today the name is used of the genus Satureja and above all of summer savory, santoreggia domestica; winter savory is santoreggia montana or selvatica.^[14][7][1] The herb flavours food and gives an essential oil used in liqueurs and bitters.^[14][5]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – GRADIT's date for the word.^[7]
• About 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi describes the herb.^[4]
• 15th century – Tanaglia writes santoregia.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. summer savory (Satureja hortensis): an aromatic herb of the mint family with narrow leaves and small pinkish flowers, used to flavour food and in liqueurs and perfumes.^{[7][9][14][1]}
2. Any plant of the genus Satureja;^[9][14][1] santoreggia montana is winter savory.^[9][14][1]

Related words

• satureia
• Latin saturēia
• French sarriette

Usage notes

A regional synonym is timbra.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 541
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3336
4. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)