speronara
English
Etymology
From Italian speronara, Sicilian spirunara.
Noun
speronara (plural speronaras)
- (nautical, historical) A small, usually single-masted, sailing boat, used especially for transport between Sicily and Malta, remaining in use along the coast of Sicily until the mid-20th century.
- 1850, William O. S. Gilly, Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849:
- 'Whilst my boat was preparing (a Maltese speronara, with a crew of twelve men, selected for their knowledge of the coast,) I wrote two letters, one to Malta, and the other to Lisbon, stating the loss of the ship.
- 1863, Bayard Taylor, The Lands of the Saracen:
- We had the ponente, or west-wind, all night, but the speronara moved sluggishly, and in the morning it changed to the greco-levante, or north-east.
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Italian
Etymology
From Sicilian spirunara, a reference to the distinctive spur (Sicilian spiruni, Italian sperone) on the bow.
Noun
speronara f (plural speronare)
- (nautical) speronara or lugger
Descendants
- → English: speronara
Further reading
- speronara in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana