tarma

Forms

tarma f (plural tarme)^[1] Old Venetian had Old Italian tàrmena, and the dialects have Venetian tarma and Emilian tarma.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tarmes (“woodworm; maggot”), probably through a Vulgar Latin *tarma.^[3][1][4] DELI and GRADIT derive it from the nominative, and DEI, Prati and Devoto think the word reached the standard language from the north (Emilia or Veneto).^{[4][5][2][6][7]} DEI suggests that the ending is due to a crossing with Latin vermen “worm”, and notes that the glosses also have tarmus.^[2]

The Latin word gave Friulian tarme, Romansh tarma, Old French artre and Catalan arna, almost everywhere with the sense “moth, mite”, though Meyer-Lübke finds some of the forms hard to explain.^[8][9] Crossed with Latin cariolus it gave tarlo, which Wiktionary calls a doublet.^[8][1]

The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain: DELI and the GDLI think it was foreign, Devoto–Oli and Devoto call it pre-Latin, and Wiktionary and the OLD connect it with terō (“to rub”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-, comparing Ancient Greek τερηδών (terēdṓn, “woodworm”).^{[4][10][11][7][1][12]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is in Belcalzer's translation from Mantua (1299–1309), for an insect that gnaws cloth and wood.^[13] A Medieval Latin document of 1262 from Bologna already speaks of bladum tarmatum, grain eaten by moths.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian translations of the Gospels speak of treasure on earth that le tarme e la rugine consume, and the Fiore di virtù compares envy to the moth that eats clothes.^[10] Tommaseo noted that tarma is the same as tignola, a word some dialects did not know, and recorded the proverb in panno fino sta la tarma.^[14] In Pisan the word was also used for a cunning person.^[2]

Modern usage names the moths of the family Tineidae, and tarme della cera are the larvae of wax moths that eat the comb in beehives.^[15]

Timeline

• 1262 – Medieval Latin bladum tarmatum is recorded at Bologna.^[4]
• 1299–1309 – Belcalzer uses tarma in Mantua.^[13]
• Before 1580 – The verb tarmare is recorded in Roseo da Fabriano.^[4]
• 1598 – Florio records tarma and tarmare.^[4]
• 1827 – Tarmatura is recorded.^[3]
• 1950 – Tarmicida “moth-killer” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) moth, clothes moth: a small insect whose larvae feed on dry organic matter such as wool, fur and other fabrics; the same as tignola.^[5][11][15]
2. tarma della cera: wax moth, whose larvae eat the wax of honeycombs.^[5][15]

Word family

• tarmare
• tarmicida
• tarmatura
• intarmare
• antitarme

Related words

• tarlo
• tignola
• Latin tarmes

Usage notes

Tarma is also a form of the verb tarmare.^[1] Purists rejected tarmato “moth-eaten” as a Roman usage.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3722
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 977
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 438
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 741
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)