venoso

Forms

venoso (feminine venosa, masculine plural venosi, feminine plural venose)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin vēnōsus (“full of veins”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Zingarelli, Sabatini–Coletti and Gabrielli call the source Late Latin.^[3][7][8] Wiktionary also allows a formation within Italian, from Italian vena + -oso.^[1] The source is formed from Latin vēna + -ōsus.^[9][1] The word is panromance: Romanian vinos, French veineux, Occitan venos, Catalan venos, Spanish venoso and Portuguese venoso.^[10][11] DEI dates the French word to 1545.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEI dates the first record to the 14th-century Italian version of Pietro de' Crescenzi, in the sense “full of veins”: it is safer for swollen glands to be dissolved than cut out se saranno in luoghi nervosi, ovvero venosi (“if they are in sinewy or veiny places”).^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word was also used of stones, the Zibaldone Andreini speaking of agate venose (“veined agates”), and later of wood and marble with veining.^[11][12] The anatomical sense came with the medicine of the 17th century: O. Rucellai, before 1673, contrasts arterial blood with venoso, and Malpighi and Cocchi use the word of the venous system and vessels.^[13][14] DELI dates the general sense “of a vein” to 1813.^[13]

Today the word belongs to anatomy and medicine, in many fixed phrases such as sangue venoso, pressione venosa and stasi venosa.^[4][15] The senses “full of veins” and “veined” are now archaic.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 14th century – The Crescenzi translation uses venoso “full of veins”.^[11]
• 14th century – The Zibaldone Andreini applies it to veined stones.^[11]
• 1545 – French veineux is recorded.^[11]
• Before 1673 – O. Rucellai uses sangue venoso.^[13][4]
• 1813 – The sense “of a vein” is recorded in Milan.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy, medicine) Of the veins and their system, venous: Il medico ha misurato la pressione venosa.^{[4][16][7][15]}
2. (archaic) Full of veins, or of veining (of wood, marble and similar materials).^[4][16][17]

Word family

• intravenoso
• venosità

Related words

• vena
• venatura
• Latin vēnōsus

Usage notes

Sangue venoso is the dark blood, poor in oxygen, carried by the veins of the systemic circulation and by the pulmonary arteries.^[16][15] In comparative anatomy the seno venoso is the chamber of the vertebrate heart into which the great veins open.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4011
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 742
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana