speronara

English

Etymology

From Italian speronara, Sicilian spirunara.

Noun

speronara (plural speronaras)

1. (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^[1]:

     '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^[2]:

     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.

Italian

Etymology

From Sicilian spirunara, a reference to the distinctive spur (Sicilian spiruni, Italian sperone) on the bow.

Noun

speronara f (plural speronare)

1. (nautical) speronara or lugger

Descendants

• → English: speronara

Further reading

• speronara in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana