ala

Forms

ala f (plural ali or (archaic or poetic) ale)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian alia and Old Italian ale, with the plurals ale and alie.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin āla (“wing; armpit”).^[5][6][7][8] The Latin word is continued in every Romance language except Romanian: French aile, Occitan ala, Catalan ala, Spanish ala, Portuguese ala, Romansh ala, Friulian ale and Sardinian ala.^[8][6][4] The sense “armpit” lives on only in the edge areas, in Friulian and in Sicily, Calabria and Salento.^[8] The plural in ⟨-i⟩ beside older ⟨-e⟩ follows the pattern of ape, plural ⟨api⟩.^[8]

The Latin noun goes back to an earlier *axla, whose diminutive is axilla (“armpit”), the source of ascella; its first sense was the joint of the shoulder.^[6][9][4][1] It belongs with axis (“axle”) and with German Achsel (“armpit, shoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- (“axis”).^[6][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the late 12th century.^[2][10] DELI's first is Stefano Protonotaro, of the Sicilian school, in the mid-13th century, and Ristoro d'Arezzo in 1282, for the organ that lets birds, bats and some insects fly: Ristoro describes “a spirit with wings” turning a wheel.^[5][7][11]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses came early: “favour, protection” before 1294, in Guittone d'Arezzo, and “impulse, longing” in Dante.^[5] The flank of an army is in Giovanni Villani (before 1348), the side wing of a building in Matteo Villani (before 1363), the brim of a hat in Castelli (before 1644), and a row of people lining a route from 1618, with fare ala in 1642.^[5]

The wing of an aeroplane is recorded in 1919, and in 1931 Panzini noted ala as an emphatic word for aircraft in general, a use of the Fascist years.^[5] In politics and in sport ala renders English wing (1879 and 1898).^[5][10] DELI reports Crevatin's view that parole alate “winged words” is a mistaken calque of Homer's épea pteróenta, which in fact meant “words that hit the mark”.^[5]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 12th century – Ala appears in the Proverbia que dicuntur.^[2][10]
• Mid-13th century – Stefano Protonotaro uses the word.^[5]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “protection”.^[5]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for the flank of an army.^[5]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it for the wing of a building.^[5]
• 1879 – Ala is used for a political wing, after English wing.^[5]
• 1898 – The sporting sense “winger” is recorded.^[5]
• 1919 – Ala is recorded for the wing of an aeroplane.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wing of a bird, insect or bat, or of an angel or other winged being: Il gabbiano spiegò le ali e si alzò sul mare.^[7][10][12]
2. (cooking) The wing of a chicken or other fowl as a cut.^[7][3]
3. (figurative) Protection: sotto l'ala di qualcuno, under someone's protection.^[7][10][13]
4. (aeronautics) The wing of an aircraft.^[10][12][13]
5. A side part of something, symmetrical to another: the wing of a building, the flank of an army.^[7][12][14]
6. Each of two rows of people or things facing each other: Gli atleti sfilarono tra due ali di tifosi.^[7][12][14]
7. The sail of a windmill; the brim of a hat.^[7][14]
8. (sport) A winger, an attacking player on the side of the field.^[12][5]
9. (politics) A wing or faction of a party.^[5][10]
10. (anatomy, botany) A wing-shaped part or outgrowth: ala del naso.^[7][12]

Word family

• alato
• aleggiare
• aletta
• alettone
• aliante
• aliare

Related words

• ascella
• asse
• Latin ala
• French aile

Usage notes

The plural is ali;^[1][13][3] ale is archaic or poetic.^[1][13][3] Fixed phrases include tarpare le ali (to clip someone's wings), avere le ali ai piedi (to run very fast) and in un batter d'ali (in a flash).^[13][3][10] Two minor words have the same spelling: ala “hauling rope” in nautical use, from alare “to haul” (1829), and an old ala “English ale”, from English ale, in Sanudo.^[7][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 103
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1392
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 279
12. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 104