aia

aia¹ threshing floor

Etymology tree of aia¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ārea

Aromanian aryi

Italian aia

Spanish era

English area

Italian area

From the same root · aia¹

Latin āreola ← ārea

Pronunciation

• /ˈa.ja/^[1]

Forms

aia f (plural aie)^[1] Forms in the oldest texts include Old Italian aja, Old Italian aira, Old Italian ara and Old Italian era.^[2]

Etymology

The word for the threshing floor is inherited from Latin ārea (“open space; threshing floor”), through a later spelling ⟨aria⟩, which an inscription already shows.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The /rj/ became /j/ as usual in Tuscan.^[8] Its learned doublet is area, and southern Italy has ara.^[1][9][6]

The same word is French aire, Spanish era, Catalan era, Portuguese eira and Romanian arie.^[4][10] The LEI finds the Latin senses “garden bed”, “open space” and “threshing floor” continued in Romance, with “hearth” as an Italo-Romance development.^[11]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain, and it has no certain cognates.^[3][4][7] Varro already linked it with Latin āreō (“to be dry”), as the place where cut grain dries.^[12][4] Wiktionary gives two proposals: a root Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (“to burn”), or a word for a threshing tool, *h₂eh₂rh₃-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Ugo di Perso of Cremona, in the first half of the 13th century; the sense is the level space in front of a farmhouse where crops are gathered and worked.^[2][4] The Italian translation of Palladius, about 1340, describes it: Debbono li spazi dell'aie dintorno essere più alti che l'aia, sicché l'acqua vi corra “the spaces around the floors must be higher than the floor, so that water runs off”.^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used aia for any open level ground, for a bed of flowers or vegetables (in the translation of Crescenzi, 1320), and for the space where bird nets were spread.^[2][11] In the 14th century aira could mean “nest” in the north.^[6] In the 16th century some writers tried to use aia for area.^[3]

From the 16th century aia also named the halo of the moon, after the ancient calque of Greek hálōs, the source of alone.^[6] In medicine the word names the area of the body's surface over an internal organ, as in aia cardiaca.^[5][13] The idiom menare il can per l'aia “to lead the dog round the threshing floor” means to drag a matter out without concluding.^[5][13][14]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – Ugo di Perso of Cremona uses aia.^[2]
• Before 1277 – Zingarelli's date for the word.^[14]
• 1320 – Aia “garden bed” is in the translation of Crescenzi.^[11]
• c. 1340 – The translation of Palladius describes the threshing floor.^[3]
• 14th century – Aiuola “flower bed” is recorded, from Latin areola.^[4]
• 16th century – Aia is used for the halo of the moon.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A threshing floor; the farmyard in front of a farmhouse, beaten or paved, where grain and other crops are threshed and dried: Le galline razzolavano sull'aia.^{[5][15][9][13]}
2. (medicine) The area of the body's surface over an internal organ: aia cardiaca.^[5][13]
3. (obsolete) An open space; a garden bed.^[13][16][14]

Word family

• aiuola
• aione
• aiuolo

aia² governess

Pronunciation

• /ˈa.ja/^[1]

Forms

aia f (plural aie)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the governess is borrowed from Spanish aya, the feminine of ayo (“tutor”), which Italian took as aio in 1538.^[3][17][4] The Spanish word is recorded from 1107.^[17][5]

Its origin is disputed.^[3][5] Corominas, after hesitating, derived it from Latin avia (“grandmother”), with the masculine formed later by analogy, and the LEI and Nocentini follow him.^[3][17][4] The traditional etymon, kept by DEI and Sabatini, is Gothic *𐌷𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰 (*hagja, “guardian”).^[18][9][1] GRADIT calls the origin uncertain.^[5] The Latin word is the feminine of avus (“grandfather”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in 1608, in the report on Spain that the ambassador F. Priuli read to the Venetian Senate, with the sense “woman who brings up and teaches children”.^[3][17]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged to the households of the nobility, where the aio and the aia brought up the children.^[17][9] It is now literary or historical.^[1][9] German borrowed it as Aja in 1728.^[19]

Timeline

• 1107 – Spanish ayo is first recorded.^[17]
• 1538 – A. Caro uses aio “tutor”.^[3]
• 1608 – F. Priuli uses aia “governess”.^[3]
• 1728 – German Aja is recorded.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary, historical) A governess, a woman who brought up and taught the children of a noble family.^[9][19][1]