canuto

See also: Canuto

Italian

FWOTD – 1 October 2017

Etymology

From Late Latin cānūtus, from Latin cānus. Cognate with French chenu. By surface analysis, cano (“white-haired”) +‎ -uto (“-ed”, “having ”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kaˈnu.to/
Rhymes: -uto
Hyphenation: ca‧nù‧to

Adjective

canuto (feminine canuta, masculine plural canuti, feminine plural canute)

grey, hoary, white (of hair)
- 1840, Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi‎, Tip. Guglielmini e Redaelli, Chapter VIII, page 142:
  Due folte ciocche di capelli, che gli scappavano fuor della papalina, due folti sopraccigli, due folti baffi, un folto pizzo, tutti canuti
  Two thick curls which escaped from beneath the cap, two thick eyebrows, two thick mustachios, a dense tuft along his chin, all quite grey
- 1903, Gabriele D'Annunzio, “L'opere e i giorni [Works and Days]”, in Alcyone‎, collected in D'Annunzio: versi d'amore e di gloria, volume 2, Milan, published 2004, lines 29–31:
  sale su per lo stipite di pietra ¶ il bianco gelsomin grato alle pecchie ¶ eguale di candore al crin canuto.
  it goes up along the stone jamb ¶ the white jasmin, grateful to the bees, ¶ equal in candor to the whitening hair.
(by extension) hoary-haired
(figurative, poetic) old, serious, staid
- 1374, Francesco Petrarca, “Trionfo della Pudicizia [Triumph of Demureness]”, in I trionfi [The Triumphs]‎, Milan: Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, published 1997, lines 87–88:
  Timor d’infamia e Desio sol d’onore, ¶ Penser canuti in giovenile etate
  Fear of shame and desire only for honour/honor ¶ Mature thoughts at a youthful age
- 1581, Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata [Jerusalem Delivered]‎, Erasmo Viotti, Canto IV, page 76:
  […] ò diletta mia, che ſotto biondi ¶ capelli, e frà sì tenere ſembianze, ¶ canuto ſenno e cor virile aſcondi
  O my beloved, you who, under blond hair and so lovely an appearance, hide serious judgement and a virile heart
(by extension, literary) covered in white, specifically:
1. besnowed, snow-covered, snowy (of mountains)
  - 16^th century, Gabriello Chiabrera, “Viva perla de' fiumi [Live Pearl of the Rivers]”, in Opere di Gabriello Chiabrera e di Fulvio Testi‎, Niccolò Bettoni, published 1834, page 12:
    O chiara, o regal figlia ¶ de' gioghi infra le nubi alti e canuti!
    O bright, o royal daughter ¶ of the tall and snowy beclouded summits!
2. foamy, spumescent (of seawater)
  - 1907, Alfredo Panzini, “XVIII. Negrito, il feroce [Negrito, the Ferocious]”, in La lanterna di Diogene‎, published 2016:
    Il mare azzurro rotolava le sue onde canute, ancora come ai tempi di Omero.
    The light-blue sea was rolling its foamy waves, like in Homer's times.