tracina

Forms

tracina f (plural tracine)^[1] A variant trascina is used in Pisa and in southern Italy.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *tracĕna in Nocentini's spelling, while GRADIT, more cautiously, gives it as a tentative form with ĭ in the second syllable.^[5][6][7][8] This is a popular reshaping of Latin dracaena (“she-dragon”), which is from Ancient Greek δράκαινα (drákaina, “she-dragon”), the feminine of δράκων (drákōn, “serpent, dragon”).^[5][1][9] Zingarelli calls it a southern word taken straight from the Greek.^[10] Meyer-Lübke listed the Vulgar Latin form with the meaning “weever” and outcomes in Italian, Sicilian, Genoese and French dialects.^[4]

The fish was named after the dragon because the spines of its back give painful, venomous stings.^[5][10] Italian drago continues the masculine draco, and dracena is a learned doublet of the same Latin feminine.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to 1602.^[10] The GDLI's earliest quotation is from the poet Marino, who compares the hidden barbs of love to the “cruel weever's harmful spines” (la tracina ria spine nocenti).^[9] GRADIT, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date the word only to 1957, and DEI to 1939.^{[6][5][11][2]}

Semantic evolution

The name has always belonged to the venomous weevers of the Mediterranean.^[9][8] Zoology now applies it to four species of the family Trachinidae: tracina drago, tracina raggiata, tracina ragno and tracina vipera.^[8][6] They lie buried in the sand of the shallows with only their poisonous spines showing, and a bather who treads on one suffers severe pain.^[8][12]

In the 20th century Viani lists the tracina among the fish of the Tuscan coast, and Stefano Benni has a character who has just stepped on “a weever, or spider fish” (una tracina, o pesce ragno).^[9]

Timeline

• 1602 – First record of the word, according to Zingarelli.^[10]
• 1939 – The date DEI gives for the word in ichthyology.^[2]
• 1957 – The date of first record in GRADIT, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli.^[6][5][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) weever: any of the marine fish of the family Trachinidae, with an elongated body and venomous spines on the gill cover and the first dorsal fin.^{[6][11][10][1]}

Related words

• drago
• dracena
• trachino
• Latin dracaena
• Ancient Greek δράκαινα (drákaina)

Usage notes

Tracina and trachino are synonyms.^[7][10] In the dialects of Calabria and Sicily a separate tràcina (also tràscina, antracina) means “carbuncle, malignant boil”.^[2][13] Rohlfs explained it as a blend of the Greek words for “anthrax” and “she-dragon”, while DEI derives it from antrace crossed with a Byzantine Greek word.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3849
3. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET, p. 490