smergo

Forms

smergo m (plural smerghi)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian s- + mergo, the older and now regional name of the bird.^[2][3][4] That word is from Latin mergus (“a diving seabird”), literally “the bird that plunges”, from mergō (“to plunge, immerse”).^[5][6][1] Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti take the prefix as intensive, and the GDLI as the Latin ex- in an intensive sense.^[7][3][8] DELI notes that Italian has had the form without s- since the 14th century and thinks the form with s- may have come from the Veneto.^[5] The GDLI also calls it a variant of that form, probably Venetian.^[8] Devoto saw in it a cross with a lost verb of the type of smergolare (in Lucca “to sing monotonously”), with a durative s-.^[9][10]

Derivatives of the same Latin word gave marangone “cormorant” and margotta “layer (of a plant)”.^[6][10] Meyer-Lübke lists Galician mergo “cormorant” and, with suffixes, Sardinian margone, Occitan margon and Portuguese mergulhão “diver”.^[10]

De Vaan takes the Latin noun to be made from the verb, for a bird that dives into the water.^[11][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *mezge/o- and Proto-Indo-European *mesg- (“to sink, wash”), the root of Lithuanian mazgóti (“to wash”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the 14th-century Tuscan Bible translation (Bibbia volgare), where the smergo is among the birds the Israelites may not eat, beside the eagle and the owl.^[5][8] GRADIT dates the word to the end of the 13th century and Zingarelli to the 13th, without naming a text.^[2][12] The sense is the diving duck with a long, hooked bill.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century Berni compared a hunter under water to “a goose or a smergo” (qual oca o smergo va).^[13][14] Pantera took the diving of ducks and smerghi as a sign of rain, and Dolce explained the name by the bird's habit of plunging (vi si sommerge).^[8][14]

The name was not always tied to the same bird: Tommaseo applied it to the great northern diver (Colymbus glacialis), and Treccani still records smergo massimo as another name of the strolaga maggiore.^[14][15] The modern dictionaries use it for the ducks of the genus Mergus.^[2][7][15] DEI notes it as a bird common in the Veneto in winter.^[13]

Timeline

• 14th century – The Bibbia volgare lists the smergo among the unclean birds.^[5][8]
• 16th century – Berni uses the word in his Orlando innamorato.^[13][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. merganser: any of several fish-eating diving ducks of the genus Mergus, with a long, thin, serrated bill hooked at the tip and a crest of feathers on the head.^{[2][7][15][1]}
2. (zoology) Smergo maggiore is the goosander (Mergus merganser), smergo minore the red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator), which winters in Italy.^[7][12][15]
3. (zoology, capitalised) The genus to which these ducks belong.^[3]

Related words

• mergo
• marangone
• margotta
• Latin mergus

Usage notes

The form mergo is also used, especially regionally.^[3][12][1] The plural is smerghi.^[7][1] Smergo bianco is the smew (Mergus albellus), also called pesciaiola.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 167
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3517
14. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ 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)