testuggine

Forms

testuggine f (plural testuggini)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *testūgine, a spoken variant of Latin testūdō (“tortoise”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin suffix -ūdō was replaced by -ūgō, a change found in other words too.^[2][6] Devoto explains it as a crossing with the nouns in that ending, and the doubled /dʒ/ as the regular lengthening of the consonant after the stress in a word stressed on the third syllable from the end.^[7]

Nocentini, Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani derive the Latin word from testa (“earthenware; shell”), with the suffix -tūdō.^[3][8][9][1] The OLD derives it from testū (“earthenware lid”) or the same noun.^[10] DELI calls its origin unknown but points to the basic meaning of that noun.^[2]

The Vulgar Latin form survives in the Logudorese tostoine.^[11] In Naples and the Abruzzi the word was crossed with cesta.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and Zingarelli date the word to 1282.^[3][6] DELI's earliest dated record is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, for the siege engine: “the cat is called in Latin testuggine” (Il gatto è detto per lettera testuggine).^[2] GRADIT also dates the first record to the second half of the 13th century in this military sense.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini, before 1294, uses the word for the animal, and Giamboni describes how “the true tortoise now puts out its head, now draws it in”.^[2][13] In the Tesoro a lazy man is called a testuggine.^[14] In the 14th century the word also named a constellation of the northern sky, and testuggine marina was used for the whale.^[12] Boccaccio uses it for the ceiling of a room, and DEI records the obsolete verb testugginare.^[12]

The Roman battle formation, with the soldiers' shields held up and overlapping over their heads, is recorded from before 1600, in Davanzati.^[2] Treccani notes that the name of the Greek lyre came from the legend that Hermes made it from a tortoise shell, and that in the 16th century the word was also used for the lute.^[9][15] The literary testudine is a Latinising form.^[8]

Timeline

• 1282 – First record of testuggine.^[3][6]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for a siege engine.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for the tortoise.^[2]
• 14th century – It names a constellation of the northern sky.^[12]
• Before 1600 – Davanzati uses it for the Roman shield formation.^[2]
• 1763 – Parini uses the adjective testuggineo for a comb of tortoiseshell.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) tortoise, especially the land and freshwater species; also the common European tortoise, Testudo hermanni, often kept in gardens.^[4][5][9]
2. (music, historical) An ancient stringed instrument like the lyre, with a hollow body over which the strings were stretched.^[4][5][6]
3. (Ancient Rome, military) The testudo: a formation of soldiers advancing on a wall with their shields held over their heads, overlapping like the plates of a tortoise shell.^[4][5][6]
4. (Ancient Rome, military) A siege engine: a movable wooden shed protecting a battering ram and its crew.^[4][5][16]
5. (Ancient Rome, architecture) A roof of four planes sloping towards the centre, used especially for shrines.^[4][15][6]
6. (medicine) In fasciatura a testuggine, a bandage for the heel or elbow.^[9][1]

Word family

• testuggineo

Related words

• testudinato
• testudine
• testa
• tartaruga
• Latin testūdō

Usage notes

In common use testuggine is a synonym of tartaruga; zoologists keep testuggine for the land and freshwater species and tartaruga for the sea turtles.^[5][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3777
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli