smeraldino

Forms

smeraldino (feminine smeraldina, masculine plural smeraldini, feminine plural smeraldine)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian smeraldo + -ino.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary instead treats it as the Italian outcome of Latin smaragdīnus (“emerald-green”), formed on the noun only by surface analysis.^[1] The Latin adjective is taken from Ancient Greek σμαράγδινος (smarágdinos).^[7]

The noun smeraldo goes back to Vulgar Latin *smaraudus, a spoken form of Latin smaragdus, from Ancient Greek σμάραγδος (smáragdos).^[2][8][1] The Greek word is a loan from the East whose direct source is not settled: Nocentini weighs an Indic and an Akkadian word and leans towards a Semitic origin.^[8] In the Romance forms the cluster ⟨-gd-⟩ was dissimilated and ⟨au⟩ became ⟨al⟩, as in calma and salma.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is verdj smiraldinj (“emerald greens”) in a document of P. Dietavive of 1294, with the old form smiraldino.^[2][3] The form smeraldino is recorded before 1333 in A. Simintendi.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo quotes the Italian Ovid for the sun's throne shining di chiare pietre smeraldine (“with bright emerald stones”), and treatises on gems and glass for verde smeraldino, a glass colour also called verde porro.^[9]

Later poets made it a word for brilliant green: Marino, Pascoli's musco smeraldino on the stones, and D'Annunzio's acqua smeraldina.^[10][11] Battaglia also records it of animals with iridescent green skin, plumage or wing cases, and of the yellow-green light of the firefly.^[10] The green toad (Bufo viridis) is called rospo smeraldino.^[11][3]

Timeline

• 1294 – Smiraldino appears in a document of P. Dietavive.^[2][3]
• Before 1333 – Smeraldino is recorded in A. Simintendi.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (uncommon) Of emerald, made of emerald: polvere smeraldina.^[3][4][1]
2. (literary) emerald green: un mare smeraldino.^{[3][5][12][13]}

Related words

• smeraldo
• Latin smaragdinus

Usage notes

Rospo smeraldino is the green toad and tortora smeraldina the emerald dove.^[3][11] Tommaseo also records smeraldino as a noun, a diminutive meaning a small emerald.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli