cufuruna

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• bufuruna, bufuluna
• boforona (Tuscanised form)

Etymology

An alternation of bufuruna, likely from Latin būfō (“toad/turtle (?)”), whence also buffa (“toad”). Derivation from Ancient Greek κυφός (kuphós, “bent forward”) is to be deemed outdated.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kufuˈruːna]

Noun

cufuruna f (plural cufuruni)

1. turtle, more specifically Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni)

   Synonyms: tartuca, tartuca di terra

   • [1324, Filippo Ceffi, Historia destructionis Troiae (in Italian), translation of original by Guido delle Colonne, L. 3 pag. 38:

     […] la virtù di questa pietra senza dubio è cotale, che contraposta dinanzi a gl'occhi di ciascuno animale serpente velenoso, o di suo simigliante, o vero di quello, il quale volgarmente buforona in Cicilia si chiama […]

     The power of this gem is with no doubt such that, placed before the eyes of any animal venomous serpent, or its similar, that is of the one that is vernacularly called buforona in Sicily...]

2. (pathology) a horse's illness, called in Italian as talpa and testudine; a sort of abscess, testudo