vinaccia

Forms

vinaccia f (plural vinacce)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian vinazza, vinaça, vinacia and venaçia.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vinacea (“grape skins, pomace”), the neuter plural of the adjective vinaceus (“of wine”) used as a noun and taken as a feminine singular.^[3][4][1] The adjective is formed from vinum (“wine”).^[3][5] De Vaan records the Latin word for the refuse of the wine press from Cato on.^[6] Devoto starts from Vulgar Latin *vinacja, with the usual doubling of the consonant group after the stress.^[7]

Meyer-Lübke lists French vinasse, Catalan vinassa and Spanish vinaza beside the Italian word.^[8] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance noun for the pomace, formed on the word for wine with an augmentative and pejorative suffix, and finds inherited cognates in most branches, but not in Romanian, Friulian, Ladin, French, Spanish or Galician-Portuguese.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin vinazza is recorded at Ravenna in the 13th century.^[10] The first Italian record is in the poems copied into the Bolognese notarial registers, in 1309, with the sense “the residue of pressed grapes”, usually with the stalks.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Italian the word also named the spirit distilled from that residue, and wine itself.^[2] The Crescenzi translation (about 1350) uses it for the skins, pips and stalks of pressed grapes, used for second wines, spirits, fodder and fuel.^[10] Francesco da Barberino lists baths of vinaccia among the things that harden the skin.^[11]

The word is used mostly in the plural, as in acquavite di vinacce.^[5][12] Winemakers distinguish vinacce vergini, lavate and fermentate.^[5][13] By extension the word names the residue of distilling fermented musts, and the dark purplish red of the pomace, as in color vinaccia.^[12][4][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – Medieval Latin vinazza is recorded at Ravenna.^[10]
• 1309 – The first Italian record, in Bologna.^[2]
• c. 1350 – The Crescenzi translation uses the word.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. pomace, marc: the skins, pips and stalks left after pressing grapes, used for distilling spirits, as fodder or as fertiliser; mostly in the plural.^{[12][4][15][1]}
2. The residue left after distilling fermented musts.^[12][1]
3. A dark purplish-red colour, like that of pomace.^[12][4]

Adjective

1. Of that colour (invariable): un maglione vinaccia.^{[12][4][14][16]}

Word family

• vinacciolo

Related words

• vino
• vinoso
• Latin vinaceus
• French vinasse

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli