veleno

Forms

veleno m (plural veleni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin venēnum (“magic potion; poison”), with the first /n/ dissimilated to /l/ before the second, as in ⟨Bologna⟩ from ⟨Bononia⟩ and ⟨Palestrina⟩ from ⟨Praeneste⟩.^[2][3][1][4] Old forms such as veneno (13th century, Bono Giamboni) stay closer to the Latin.^[2][5][6]

The word is pan-Romance: Romanian venin, Old French velin, Occitan veré and Catalan verí, while Spanish veneno and Portuguese veneno are learned.^[3][5][7] Sardinian velenu and Sicilian vilenu were borrowed from Italian.^[5][1]

The Latin word comes from Proto-Italic *weneznom, a derivative of Latin venus (“desire, sexual love”), the word personified as the goddess Venus.^[8][3][1] Its first sense was “love potion, brew of magic plants”, as Ancient Greek φίλτρον (phíltron) goes with φιλέω (philéō, “to love”); like φάρμακον (phármakon) it then slid towards “poison”.^[2] The Digest still warns that whoever names a poison must add whether it is good or bad, since medicines are poisons too.^[2] De Vaan also allows a neutral adjective, “with desire”, that came to mean “addictive” and then “poisonous”.^[8] Wiktionary takes the root to be Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, wish, love”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Zucchero Bencivenni, 1310, for a toxic substance that does grave or deadly harm even in small amounts.^[2] DEI records the form veneno a little earlier, in Bono Giamboni.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the word, and only in verse, for a feeling that harms the one who feels it more than its object;^[2] Giovanni Villani, before 1348, for spite and hatred.^[2] Boccaccio speaks of the poisons of love.^[5][9] Dante's il velen de l'argomento (Purgatorio XXXI) gave the phrase for the sting hidden in an argument.^[10] Lorenzo Lippi (1676) uses it for a foul stench.^[5]

Francesco Redi, before 1698, extends it to any harmful substance, and Tommaseo's dictionary (1879) to anything that tastes vile.^[2] Manzoni's andare in veleno, of food that turns bitter in one's mouth, is a literary phrase.^[10][11] Chemistry and nuclear physics use it for substances that slow a catalyst or a chain reaction.^[12]

Timeline

• 13th century – Bono Giamboni uses the form veneno.^[5]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses veleno for a toxic substance.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it figuratively for a destructive feeling.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for spite and hatred.^[2]
• 1676 – Lorenzo Lippi uses it for a stench.^[5]
• Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses it for any harmful substance.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. poison: a substance that harms or kills a living organism: il veleno dello scorpione.^[12][13][14]
2. A substance very harmful to health: Il fumo è veleno per i polmoni.^[12][13][14]
3. (hyperbolic) Food or drink that tastes foul: Questa tisana è un veleno.^[12][13][11]
4. (uncommon) A foul stench.^[12][13][14]
5. (chemistry) A substance that reduces or stops the activity of a catalyst.^[12][10]
6. (nuclear physics) A non-fissile substance that absorbs neutrons and slows the chain reaction in a reactor.^[12]
7. (figurative) A feeling that eats away at the mind: il veleno del sospetto.^[12][13][11]
8. (figurative) spite, rancour, hatred: sputare veleno, to speak with venom.^[12][13][11]

Word family

• velenoso
• velenosità
• velenifero
• avvelenare
• avvelenamento
• avvelenatore
• contravveleno
• controveleno
• invelenire
• svelenire

Related words

• Venere
• Latin venenum
• French venin

Usage notes

Veneno survives as an archaic and poetic form.^[13][10][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4004
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1042
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET