tregenda

Forms

tregenda f (plural tregende)^[1] The forms of the early texts include Old Italian tresenda, Old Italian trexende and Old Italian trigenda.^[2] The GDLI also records old treggenda.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *trānsienda (“a way to be passed through”), the feminine of the gerundive of Latin trānsīre (“to go across, pass”).^[4][5][6][1] The word reached Tuscan from the dialects of northern Italy, where Lombard tresenda at Poschiavo and tresanda at Brescia still mean a lane or alley.^[5][7][8][1] In the north it also named a narrow passage used as a latrine or dump (Salvioni, 1907).^[4] Trānseō is trāns- (“across”) with eō (“to go”).^[1][9]

The sense moved from a place of passage to a meeting place: in popular belief the way was where otherworldly beings met or passed, and the expression “to go to the tregenda”, to take part in the witches' gathering, fixed the new meaning.^[4][5][10] The assimilated ⟨e⟩ of the first syllable is northern as well;^[4][11] Devoto explains the Tuscan ⟨-ge-⟩ as a replacement of the northern sound.^[4][11]

Salvini, quoted by Tommaseo, took it from Latin trecenta (“three hundred”), an idea Meyer-Lübke did not follow: he files the word under trānsīre.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the sonnets of Jacomo de' Tolomei, before 1290, which speak of the ogres, giants and witches of old “who went to the tregenda” (e streghe, che andavan en tregenda).^[2][3] In 1354 Iacopo Passavanti describes devils taking the shapes of living men and women, horses and pack animals, and riding in troops at night through certain places, “and in some countries this is called tregenda”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the nightly gathering, Old Italian used the word in its older sense of a small passage or alley, and for a crowd of people causing confusion.^[2] The group itself could be called tregenda: the devils, witches and spirits gathered together.^[3] In Tuscany it also named the will-o'-the-wisps (fuochi fatui) that simple people took for processions of souls, a sense D'Alberti illustrates with a passage of Luigi Pulci (before 1484).^[4]

From the 17th century it was used jokingly for a band of boys (Menzini), a merry company (Carli) and a crowd (Fagiuoli), and in the 19th century for a great quantity of things.^[8][4] The modern figurative uses are da tregenda, “hallucinatory, terrifying”, said of an atmosphere, and notte di tregenda, a dark, stormy night full of terrible events; the sense “pandemonium, confusion” is first recorded in Palazzi's dictionary (1939–40) and remains rare.^[7][14][4]

Timeline

• Before 1290 – Jacomo de' Tolomei writes of witches going en tregenda.^[2][3]
• 1354 – Iacopo Passavanti describes the nightly troop called tregenda.^[4]
• Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses the word of lights seen at night, later explained as will-o'-the-wisps.^[4]
• Before 1665 – Lorenzo Lippi uses it for a great crowd of people.^[4]
• 1879 – The sense “a great quantity of things” is recorded.^[8]
• 1939–1940 – Palazzi's dictionary records the sense “pandemonium”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. In popular legends of northern origin, a nightly gathering of devils, damned souls and witches meeting to work evil; a witches' sabbath.^{[6][15][16][7]}
2. (figurative) In da tregenda and notte di tregenda: something nightmarish and frightening, or a dark, violent, stormy night.^{[6][15][7][14]}
3. (figurative, uncommon) Pandemonium, chaos, a noisy crowd.^{[6][16][7][17]}

Related words

• transito
• Latin trānseō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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, p. 21, 297
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3880
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli