asciale

Forms

asciale m (plural asciali)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *axālis, an adjective formed on Latin axis (“axle; pivot”).^[2][3][4][1] Rohlfs started from a phrase *ferrum axāle “axle iron”.^[5] The Latin word is not recorded in classical texts, but the Reichenau Glosses explain axis with ascialis, which suggests that it was once used much further north than today.^[6][5] axis itself is found in every Romance language, while *axālis is mainly Italian: its outcomes, meaning the axle that joins a pair of wheels, belong to north-western Italy, reach central Italy as far as northern Abruzzo and Lazio, and cross into southern France, as in Waldensian isal.^[6][5]

The same Latin word gave the doublets assale and sala “axle”.^[1][7] According to the LEI, ⟨l'assale⟩ was misread as ⟨la sale⟩, which made the word feminine, and in Emilia it was then given the ending -a, a type that spread from there to Tuscany and Italian.^[5]

De Vaan traces axis to Proto-Italic *aksi- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- (“axle, armpit”), the source also of Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn, “axle”) and Old High German ahsa (“axle”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Italian dictionaries date the word to 1862, and the LEI's first record is Tommaseo–Bellini's dictionary.^[3][4][9][5] The sense was the one it still has: either of the two long pieces of wood that run beside the shaft of harrow (erpice).^[10][3]

Semantic evolution

From Fanfani (1870) to Tommasini (1906) dictionaries also give asciale a wider sense: any piece of wood fastened beside a beam to support or strengthen it.^[11] The derivative ascialone named a wooden bracket fixed to the poles of builders' scaffolding to carry the planks, and in Lucca it is scialene.^[6][12]

In the dialects the popular outcomes of the Latin word kept the sense “axle”, and in the Alpine Lombard of Bormio azal de la gamba meant the shin in 1582.^[11]

Timeline

• 1582 – In Bormio azal de la gamba is recorded for the shin.^[11]
• 1862 – Asciale is first recorded, for the side pieces of a harrow.^[3][4]
• 1870 – Fanfani records the wider sense of a supporting side piece of wood.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (agriculture) Either of the two pieces of wood set beside the shaft (stanga) of a harrow.^{[3][9][13][4][14][1]}
2. (dated) Any piece of wood fastened alongside a beam to support or strengthen it.^[11]

Word family

• ascialone

Related words

• assale
• sala
• asse
• Latin axis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
3. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2679
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 316
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 43
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 76
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)