tuono

Forms

tuono m (plural tuoni)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian truono, Old Italian trono and Old Italian tono, and an old plural le tuona;^[2][3][4][5] tono is still a popular form.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is from Italian tuonare, as a deverbal noun of the verb also written tonare.^{[2][6][5][7][3]} Zingarelli, Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli place the formation in spoken Latin, Vulgar Latin *tonus from Latin tonō (“to thunder”), and Devoto too speaks of a Vulgar Latin deverbal noun.^{[8][9][10][11]} Wiktionary instead derives it from tonus (“thunderclap; sound, tone”), which would make it a doublet of tono.^[1]

The same formation is Spanish trueno, Catalan tro, Portuguese trom, Sardinian tronu, Dalmatian tun and Romanian tunet.^[12] DELI explains the ⟨r⟩ of Old Italian truono by the Latin noun tonitrus (“thunder”);^[2][12] Meyer-Lübke also mentions Schuchardt's view that ⟨r⟩ became a kind of sound element, as in tremō.^[2][12]

The Latin verb has exact cognates in other Indo-European languages, among them German Donner and English thunder.^[13][2][14] The diphthong ⟨uo⟩ of the stressed syllable is now often kept in the unstressed syllable of the verb too.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo, 1282, in the sense of the sound that follows lightning in a storm.^[5][8] DELI cites the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, where a sudden rain comes with spessi li tuoni, e folgori, e baleni (“frequent thunderclaps, and thunderbolts, and lightning”).^[2][15]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Italian the word could mean the thunderbolt itself, a sense DEI finds in Dante and which survives in literary and regional use.^[5][4][10] Buti, before 1406, defined it: Tuono, secondo il filosofo, è sforzato aprimento di nube (“thunder, according to the philosopher, is a forced opening of a cloud”).^[2]

The extended sense “roar, din” is in Giordano da Pisa (1305–06), for the noise of the sea, and in Dante.^[2] Later it was said of voices, of trumpets (Caro, 16th century) and of artillery (Guicciardini, 16th century).^[4] In the 14th century it could also mean “rumour, fame”.^[4] In aeronautics tuono sonico is a sonic boom.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses tuono.^[5]
• End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses the word.^[2]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses truono and the sense “roar of the sea”.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “din, roar”.^[2]
• 16th century – Used of the sound of trumpets and artillery.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. thunder, a thunderclap: the sound that follows an electric discharge in a storm: Dopo il lampo arrivò un tuono fortissimo.^[6][9][7][1]
2. (by extension) A loud, deep noise; roar, rimbombo: il tuono di un’esplosione.^[6][7][8]
3. (figurative) Voce di tuono, a very loud, booming voice.^[9][8][10]
4. (obsolete or regional) A thunderbolt.^[8][10][5]

Word family

• frastuono

Related words

• tuonare
• tono
• fulmine
• tonare

Usage notes

Tuoni e fulmini! is an exclamation of anger or annoyance, and fare tuoni e fulmini means to rage.^[10][8][6]

A separate, obsolete tuono is a variant of tono “tone, pitch of the voice”, from Latin tonus, found in Jacopone and Varchi and in Gozzi.^{[6][4][16][3]}

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 k l m 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 e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3929
5. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1022