calle

Forms

calle f (plural calli)^[1] In the old language and in poetry the word is also masculine.^[2][3][4] Old forms include Old Italian challe, Old Italian calla and Old Italian callo.^[5] In Venice the word is Venetian cale.^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin callis (“path, track”), a noun that was masculine or feminine in Latin.^[7][6][2][1] The Latin word first meant a track trodden by animals, especially a drovers' path, and then any path or road.^[8][9] The word is Romance-wide except in Sardinia and southern Italy: Catalan call, Spanish calle and Romanian cale all continue it.^[10][6] The Old Spanish word is recorded from 1155, and the Romanian one from 1528.^[8] DEI treats Dante's masculine, literary use as a learned use of the Latin word, beside the inherited feminine of the old texts and of Venice.^[10]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[7][3] Nocentini compares Lithuanian kẽlias (“road, way”) as its closest cognate.^[6] It has traditionally been traced to Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”) and set beside Latin celer (“fast”).^[1] Walde and Hofmann reconstructed an older form with ⟨ln⟩ and rejected a link with Latin callum (“hard skin”), but de Vaan finds that link plausible in meaning, since both words suggest something rough and hardened.^[11][1] The ancients already connected the path with the word for hard skin, and Isidore explained it as a narrow track hardened by the feet of the flocks.^[9][12] Devoto too thought of a “hardened” track.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest Italian records are in Brunetto Latini's Florentine verse, about 1260–1262, where calle is a road or path; in the Tesoretto the narrator comes along the road through the plain of Roncesvalles.^[8][5][9] The TLIO's first sense is a road or path, often narrow and winding.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian soon used the word figuratively for a course of life or thought, for a means or expedient (d'ogni calle, “by every means”) and for a condition or situation.^[5] Dante used it in both genders, and the masculine became the form of poetry, a country path or narrow way, and figuratively the road one follows, as in Leopardi and Manzoni.^[10][14][2]

Outside Venice the word has gone out of use.^[7][6] In Venice the feminine calle has remained the ordinary name of the narrow streets, and Venetian documents have it from 1038; it is also used in the formerly Venetian towns of Istria and Dalmatia.^[10][7] Old Venetian chali “alleys” and Milanese cale “country lane” (1391) show the word in the northern dialects.^[8] English borrowed it in 1608 for the Venetian street.^[15]

Timeline

• 1038 – The word is documented at Venice.^[10]
• c. 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini writes challe.^[8]
• Before 1274 – Calle appears in Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the masculine calle, and the derivative callaia, a gap in a hedge.^[7][10]
• 1391 – Milanese cale “country lane” is recorded.^[8]
• 1608 – English calle for a Venetian street is recorded.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A street in Venice or another Venetian town; feminine.^[2][3][4][1]
2. (regional, Veneto) Any narrow street; feminine.^[3][16]
3. (literary, archaic) A path or country track, usually narrow and rough; masculine: un calle tra i boschi.^[2][17][18]
4. (literary, figurative) A way, course or journey, also in a moral sense; masculine.^[2][4][16]

Word family

• callaia
• calletta

Related words

• Latin callis
• Spanish calle

Usage notes

In Venetian place names calle is written as a common noun before the street's name.^[17][18] The diminutive is calletta.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 9, 1440
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 548
10. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 685
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ 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
18. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse