vigneto

Forms

vigneto m (plural vigneti)^[1] An old form is vineto.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vīnētum (“vineyard”), reshaped after vigna.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin word, already in Cato, is formed from vīnum (“wine; vine”) with the suffix -ētum of plantations.^[6][1][7][8] Sabatini–Coletti derive the Italian word: from Italian vigna with -eto, already Latin.^[9] Neighbouring languages formed comparable words from the word for the vineyard: Old French vignoi or vignot, and Spanish viñedo.^[6][10]

De Vaan traces the Latin word for wine to an Indo-European noun for the vine, “the weaving one”, from a root meaning “to weave, wrap”.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the word to the 14th century, in the Italian translation of Quintilian, for a large stretch of land planted with vines: “here shrubs, and there the vineyard” (Da questa parte arboscelli, e da quell'altra il vigneto).^[3][2] DEI puts the first record in the 13th century, in the Italian translation of Albertano.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed close to the Latin one: land, usually of some size, planted with vines, and by extension the vines grown on it.^[7][8] Francesco da Buti, before 1406, uses it in his commentary on Dante, and old texts also have a plural le vigneta.^[3][2] Modern agriculture distinguishes kinds of vineyard: a vigneto specializzato grows vines only, a vigneto consociato alternates them with other crops, and vigneto a tendone and a pergolato name ways of training the vines.^[12][5]

Timeline

• 1300s – The Italian translation of Quintilian has vigneto.^[3]
• Before 1406 – Francesco da Buti uses the word.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A vineyard: land, usually extensive, planted with vines.^{[5][7][12][1]}
2. The vines grown on such land as a whole.^[7][8]

Related words

• vigna
• vino
• Latin vīnētum
• Spanish viñedo

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4052
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli