timone

Forms

timone m (plural timoni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin tīmōnem, a Late Latin variant of Classical Latin tēmō (“pole of a cart or plough”).^[2][3][1] DELI finds the form with ⟨i⟩ in Epiphanius, about 500 AD, and in Gregory of Tours, before 594.^[4] Wiktionary allows also that Italian inherited the Classical form and raised its unstressed /e/ to /i/ itself.^[1] Old Italian also had temone, and Dante uses temo, from the Latin nominative, always of a cart.^[4][5]

The Latin word meant only the pole of a cart or plough and, by extension, the Plough or Wain of Ursa Major.^[4] It came to stand for the steering gear of a ship only in the Middle Ages, in a Medieval Latin record of 1195, where it took the place of Latin gubernāculum.^[4][6] DELI counts this among the many nautical terms that came from life on land.^[4] The same word is French timon, Occitan timó, Catalan timó, Spanish timón and Portuguese timão.^[3] Italian passed it on to Turkish dümen and to German, where Thymon is recorded in 1434.^[6][7]

The origin of the Latin word is disputed.^[8] De Vaan sets up Proto-Italic *ten(k)smōn- (“pole”), from one of several roots meaning to pull, among them Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), *tens- and *tengʰ-; the Germanic word for a pole points to ⟨*tenksmō⟩.^[8] Nocentini and DELI also connect it with the same root as tendō (“to stretch”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Pisan ship's account of the early 12th century, before 1130, where the timone is priced at 25 soldi: Timone soldi xxv.^{[4][2][9][10]} The word may be a plural there, and it already names the rudder of a ship.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini's translator compares the city governed by the wisdom of its judges to a ship governed by its rudders, and Dante uses timon of the helm turned to bring a ship to port.^[10] The sense “pole of a cart, to which the draught animals are yoked” is dated by DELI to about 1350, in the translation of Crescenzi, and the figurative sense “government, guidance” to before 1375, in Boccaccio.^[4] In Old Italian the word also named the stars of the Wain in Ursa Major.^[9]

The modern technical senses followed the new machines: the rudder of an aeroplane in 1929, and the drawbar of a trailer in 1970.^[4] The DEI dates timone di profondità, the elevator, to 1931.^[6]

Timeline

• Before 1130 – A Pisan ship's account records timone, the rudder.^[4][2]
• 1195 – Medieval Latin temo is used for a ship's rudder.^[4]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses temone and temo of the pole of a cart.^[4]
• c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi uses timone for the pole of a farm cart.^[4]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it figuratively, “guidance, government”.^[4]
• 1434 – German Thymon is first recorded.^[7]
• 1598 – Timoniere “helmsman” is recorded by Florio.^[4]
• 1929 – Timone is used of an aeroplane.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) The rudder of a boat or ship, a blade hinged at the stern and worked by a tiller or wheel: Il marinaio teneva saldo il timone nella tempesta.^[2][11][12]
2. (aeronautics) The movable part of an aircraft's tail that controls its direction: timone di profondità, the elevator.^[2][11][12]
3. The shaft or pole projecting from the front of a cart or carriage, to which the draught animals are harnessed;^[2][11][12] (poetic) the cart itself.^[2][11][12]
4. The beam of a plough, which carries the coulter.^[2][13][5]
5. The jointed bar that couples a trailer to the towing vehicle.^[2][12]
6. (figurative) Guidance, government, direction: essere al timone di un'azienda.^[2][11][13]
7. (astronomy) The three stars that form the pole of the Great and Little Bear.^[11][5]
8. (publishing) A plan showing the sequence of the pages of a publication and their content.^[12]

Word family

• timoniere
• timoniera
• timoniero
• timoneria
• timonella
• timonista
• timoneggiare
• timonare
• controtimone

Related words

• Latin tēmō
• French timon

Usage notes

Essere al timone or reggere il timone means to be in charge.^[14][11] The old and poetic forms temone and temo are listed by Devoto–Oli and Zingarelli.^[11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3792
7. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
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, 1039
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana