trifoglio

Forms

trifoglio m (plural trifogli, diminutive trifoglino, augmentative trifoglióne)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian trefoglio, Old Italian trafoglio, Old Italian trifoio, Old Italian trifolio and Veronese terfojo.^[2][3] The Tesoro dei poveri has trefoglio.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin trifolium (“clover”), formed from tri- (“three”) and folium (“leaf”) as a calque of Ancient Greek τρίφυλλον (tríphullon), whose parts mean the same.^[6][7][3][1] The plant normally has compound leaves of three leaflets.^[6]

The Latin word gave Occitan trefolh, Sardinian trovózu and Romanian trifoi.^[7][8] Nocentini derives French trèfle, Catalan trèvol, Spanish trébol and Portuguese trevo from Vulgar Latin *trĭfŏlum.^[7] DEI and Meyer-Lübke take these western forms instead from the Greek word, latinised with its Greek stress.^[9][8] Körting explained the French form as a blend of Old French trefeuil with treble (“threefold”).^[10]

De Vaan doubts the usual comparison of the Latin word for “leaf” with φύλλον (phúllon) and mentions a link with Proto-Indo-European *dʰlH- (“to sprout, blossom”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Veronese Giudizio universale of the early 14th century, and GRADIT and Nocentini date the word before 1320.^[2][12][7] DELI's first record is the Italian version of Crescenzi, about 1350, for a hairy herbaceous plant with red flowers in round heads, an excellent fodder.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The TLIO notes that clover was valued both as fodder and for its medicinal qualities.^[2] The Tesoro dei poveri prescribes bathing the head with a decoction of trefoglio against dizziness, and the Italian Palladius lists it among the plants that show good soil for grain.^[5][3] Giovanni Villani describes Florentine coins marked with quasi come uno trefoglio (“something like a trefoil”) under the feet of Saint John.^[3]

In the 18th century Salvini used trifoglio as an adjective, “three-leaved”.^[3][5] The name spread to other plants with similar leaves, such as trifoglio acetoso (wood sorrel) and trifoglio fibrino (bogbean), and a clover with four leaflets is a quadrifoglio.^[13][14][15] Heraldry and mathematics borrowed it for figures of the same shape.^[12] D'Annunzio's trifoglio aruspice … di quattro foglie (“soothsaying clover … of four leaves”) is a four-leaved clover.^[14]

Timeline

• Early 14th century – The Veronese Giudizio universale has the word.^[2]
• Before 1320 – GRADIT's date of first record.^[12][7]
• c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi describes the fodder plant.^[6]
• 18th century – Salvini uses trifoglio as an adjective.^[9][3]
• 1871–1892 – The general name trifoglino is recorded.^[6]
• 1970 – Trifoglina appears in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[6][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. clover: a small herbaceous plant of meadows and fields, with leaves of three (rarely four) leaflets and red, white or purple flowers in heads, much grown for fodder.^{[12][16][13][15][1]}
2. (botany, capitalised) Trifoglio, the genus Trifolium of the pea family.^[12][15][16]
3. A popular name of plants of other families with similar leaves: trifoglio acetoso, trifoglio fibrino.^[12][13][14]
4. (heraldry) A trefoil: a green figure of a clover with a wavy stalk, chiefly in French heraldry.^[12][17][1]
5. (mathematics) A plane algebraic curve of the fourth order with a triple point, shaped like a clover leaf.^[12]
6. (geometry) A plane figure formed by three arcs of circle drawn on the vertices of an equilateral triangle.^[12]

Word family

• trifoglina
• trifoglino
• trifoglione
• trifogliaio

Related words

• quadrifoglio
• foglia
• foglio
• Latin trifolium
• French trèfle

Usage notes

Species names include trifoglio pratense (red clover), trifoglio bianco or ladino (white clover), trifoglio incarnato and trifoglio alessandrino.^[13][14] The diminutive is trifoglino and the augmentative trifoglione.^[1][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1016
5. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3896
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org