Italian words from Proto-Germanic
5 Italian words with Proto-Germanic in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
bianco
It is a Germanic loan, borrowed from Proto-Germanic *blank (“shining, bright”), which replaced Latin albus (“white”) in most of Romance. It is recorded early as Medieval Latin blancus: as the byname…
bosco
It is a Germanic word, borrowed from Proto-Germanic *bosk, West Germanic or *busk (“wood, thicket”), the word of German Busch and English bush. The two forms are reconstructed because the dialects…
bruno
It is borrowed from Proto-Germanic *brūna- (“dark, brown”), a Germanic colour word that entered Latin and Romance. Nocentini starts from Proto-West Germanic *brūn. Devoto–Oli and Zingarelli prefer…
fresco
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *friscus (“fresh”), from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (“fresh”). The sources agree on the Germanic origin but differ on how the word came in: DELI holds that, because it…
rubare
It is borrowed from Proto-West Germanic *raubōn (“to plunder, rob”), a verb formed from *rauba (“booty; clothes taken as booty”), the source of roba. Wiktionary gives Late Latin raubāre as the…