vermine

Forms

vermine m (plural vermini)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin vermen (“worm”), a variant of Latin vermis (“worm”) of the same kind as sanguen beside sanguis.^[2][3][4][5] The Italian form is built on the stem vermin- with a final -e, as in nouns of the consonant stems.^[6] Zingarelli and Gabrielli start from the ablative case.^[7][8] The GDLI calls it a learned word, while Wiktionary has it inherited through Proto-Romance.^[7][8][9][1] Battisti and Alessio note that this type belongs to Italy and the western Romance area;^[2] Late Latin also had vermina “convulsions caused by worms” and verminōsus.^[2]

vermis goes back to Proto-Italic *wormis, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (“worm, snake”).^[10][1] Its cognates are Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌼𐍃 (waurms), Old English wyrm and Old High German wurm.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word before 1292.^[7] In the Novellino (late 13th century) a Greek holds a stone to his ear and tells the king that there is a worm inside it (qui ha un vermine).^[9][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word was common in prose: Giovanni Villani tells of a rain of worms (piovono grandissima quantità di vermini), and Boccaccio uses it for the worms of a dead body and for the worms a child has in its belly.^[9][12][2] The plural vermini for intestinal worms is dated by DELI to Giordano da Pisa (1305–1306), and Tommaseo says the plural was still popular in that sense.^[11][12] A vernacular Marco Polo uses it for the silkworm, and the Vite dei Santi Padri speaks of the worm of conscience.^[2]

The standard word became verme, and vermine is now marked as obsolete and literary.^[4][5]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Zingarelli's date for vermine.^[7]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino has un vermine.^[9]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses vermini for intestinal worms.^[11]
• 14th century – Giovanni Villani and Boccaccio use the word; a vernacular Marco Polo uses it for the silkworm.^[2]
• 17th century – Vallisneri forms verminaccio.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic, literary) Worm, verme; also a larva feeding on rotting matter.^[4][7][8][9]
2. (archaic) Silkworm, baco da seta.^[7][8][2]
3. (in the plural, popular) intestinal worms.^[2][12]

Word family

• verminaio
• verminuzzo
• verminetto

Related words

• verme
• verminoso
• verminare
• Latin vermis

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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4025
3. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 786
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET