argilla

Forms

argilla f (plural argille)^[1] Old Italian also had argiglia and archilla.^[2] A masculine argillo is found only in Apulia, Lucania and the Salento.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin argilla (“potter's clay”), which Latin had from Ancient Greek ἄργιλλος (árgillos) or ἄργιλος (árgilos, “white clay”).^{[4][5][6][1][3]} The Latin word continues throughout Romance except in Romanian: Friulian arzìle, Romansh arschella, French argile, Old Occitan argila, Spanish arcilla, Portuguese argila and Sardinian argidda.^[3][5][7][8] In the south of Italy creta has largely replaced it.^[8]

The Old Italian variant argiglia comes from Late Latin argīllea “of clay”, said of earth, which also gave Tuscan terra giglia.^[4][9]

DELI, GRADIT and Zingarelli compare the Greek word with Ancient Greek ἀργός (argós, “white”), and Nocentini derives it from a root Proto-Indo-European *arg- (“shining white”), that of argento; for Devoto it is “the shining (because white) earth”.^{[4][10][11][5][12]} Wiktionary allows either that link or a borrowing from Pre-Greek.^[1] Isidore had derived the name from Argos, where vessels were first made of it, a folk etymology Battaglia quotes.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are from the early 14th century: Mantuan argilla in Belcalzer around 1300, and Florentine in a Lenten sermon of Giordano da Pisa in 1306, for the soft sedimentary rock that turns plastic when wet.^[3][2] The translation of Crescenzi's treatise on agriculture says that “l'argilla è calda e secca” (clay is hot and dry).^[13][14]

Semantic evolution

Around 1340 the translation of Palladius has both the variant argiglia and the adjective argilloso “clayey”.^[4] Leonardo wrote arzilla, and the dialects of the north and centre have many such forms.^[3]

From the biblical story of the creation of man the word came to stand for the human body, as in Manzoni's line “E tu degnasti assumere / questa creata argilla?” (And you deigned to take on this created clay?).^[10][15][16] By extension it means the stuff a person is made of, his nature.^[10][17] Modern technical uses include argilla espansa, clay fired into small porous balls used for insulation and in gardening, and the first element argillo- of many learned compounds in mineralogy.^[15][11][8]

Timeline

• About 1300 – Belcalzer uses argilla in Mantuan.^[3]
• 1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses the word in a Lenten sermon.^[2]
• 1320 – The translation of Crescenzi uses argilla.^[3]
• About 1340 – The translation of Palladius has argiglia and argilloso.^[4]
• Before 1519 – Leonardo writes arzilla.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. clay: soft earth that is easily shaped, used to make pottery and bricks: Il ragazzo modellava un vaso d'argilla.^[10][18][1]
2. (geology) A sedimentary rock made mostly of hydrated aluminium silicates, which absorbs water and becomes plastic.^[10][15][16]
3. (figurative, literary) The human body, made of clay in the biblical story of creation.^[10][15][16]
4. (figurative) Nature, character: essere della stessa argilla.^[10][17]

Word family

• argilloso
• argillaceo
• argillite

Related words

• creta
• argento
• Latin argilla
• French argile

Usage notes

Piedi d'argilla “feet of clay” is a weak foundation under a great structure, and a colosso dai piedi d'argilla is a power that looks great but stands on fragile ground.^[15][17][11] Argilla and creta are synonyms.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1109
4. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 284
9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 67
10. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 645
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse