uva

Forms

uva f (usually uncountable, plural uve)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ūva (“bunch of grapes”), which in Latin also meant “uvula”.^[2][3][4][1] The same word is Spanish uva, Portuguese uva, Sardinian ua, Friulian uve and Dalmatian yoiva.^[3][5][6] In Gaul it was replaced by Latin racēmus (“bunch of grapes”), the source of French raisin, and in Sicily and Calabria the grape is Sicilian racina.^[7]

Latin ūva goes back to Proto-Italic *oiwā.^[8][1][9] It is compared with Ancient Greek ὄα (óa), the name of a fruit tree, and Old Armenian այգի (aygi, “vine”), and in another grade with tree names such as Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”) and Proto-Germanic *īwaz (“yew”).^[8][1][9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₁oiH-u̯h₂- for a kind of tree, probably one with berries, but notes that the ablaut and the field of tree names may point to a loan from a non-Indo-European language.^[8] Nocentini instead compares Lithuanian úoga (“berry”) and the Slavic word for “berry”: the grape being a Mediterranean fruit, the Indo-European word for berries would have been extended to it.^[3][10] DELI and the GDLI doubt an Indo-European origin, and DELI notes that the words of viticulture are either loans or recent adaptations.^[2][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Iacopone, before 1306, for the fruit of the vine, a cluster of berries.^[2][4] The DEI puts the word in the 13th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Dante dates a scene to the season quando l'uva imbruna “when the grapes darken”, and Boccaccio describes vines that promised to bear assai uve “many grapes” that year.^[11][12] Old Italian also used uva for a single bunch, as in the 14th-century Italian Palladius.^[7]

Many varieties are named with uva and an adjective or complement, such as uva moscata, uva regina and uva fragola, the American grape Vitis labrusca.^[13][14] By likeness the word also names other plants with berries, such as uva spina and uva di monte.^[4][14][15] Uva passa “raisins” has parallels in Spanish pasa and Portuguese passa.^[5]

The diminutive uvetta is recorded before 1566 in A. Caro and came to mean seedless raisins in 1961;^[2][3] uvaggio, a blend of grape varieties, dates from 1905.^[2][3]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses uva.^[2][4]
• 14th century – The Italian Palladius uses it for a bunch of grapes.^[7]
• Before 1566 – A. Caro uses the diminutive uvetta.^[2]
• 1598 – Florio records uvifero “bearing grapes”.^[2]
• 1681 – F. Baldinucci uses uveaceo “grape-coloured”.^[2]
• 1905 – Uvaggio is recorded.^[3]
• 1961 – Uvetta is recorded for seedless raisins.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Grapes, the fruit of the vine: berries borne in bunches, from yellow to red-violet in colour; usually as a mass noun: Al mercato abbiamo preso tre grappoli d'uva nera.^[4][16][17]
2. (botany) A name for various plants whose berries look like grapes, such as uva spina, the gooseberry.^[4][14][15]

Word family

• uvetta
• uvaggio
• uvifero
• uvaceo

Related words

• ugola
• Latin ūva

Usage notes

Uva passa or uva secca is raisins, and uva da tavola and uva da vino are table and wine grapes.^[4][18][14] An old anatomical uva “uvula” is a shortened form of Latin ūvula; compare ugola.^[11][2] UVA is also the abbreviation for near-ultraviolet radiation.^[4][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3967
8. ^ a b c 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana