candela

Forms

candela f (plural candele)^[1] There was also Old Italian candella, with the double l of the suffix -ella, and northern forms such as Milanese candira (Bonvesin) and Genoese candere.^[2][3] An old masculine candelo was used by Fra Giordano and Dante.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin candēla (“candle; waxed cord”).^{[6][7][8][1][9]} The Latin word is formed from candeō (“to shine, glow”) with the suffix -ēla, as Devoto compares querēla and loquēla.^{[10][1][6][11]}

The word is found in every Romance language except Romanian: Old French chandoile (French chandelle), Occitan candela, Catalan candela, Spanish candela and Portuguese candeia.^[7][3][9] Romanian cândelă “lamp” came back by way of Byzantine Greek and Serbian.^[12] The Latin word was also borrowed into Irish (Irish caindel) and Basque (Basque kandela).^[9] The forms in ⟨-ella⟩ of the 14th and 15th centuries did not prevail in Italian, unlike French, where the form in ⟨-elle⟩ replaced the older one from the 13th century.^[3]

De Vaan derives candeō from Proto-Italic *kand-ē- (“to shine”), and explains the unexpected vowel /a/ from forms such as Proto-Indo-European *kn̥d-ro- (“shining”).^[13] Nocentini compares Welsh cann (“shining”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Ritmo cassinese of the late 12th century, with the sense “a cylinder of wax or tallow with a wick, lit to give light”; the TLIO's first record is a Roman foundation document of the 12th century.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the candle served as a votive and liturgical light and as a measure of time, for instance for the term within which a decree had to be obeyed;^[2] candela could also mean a drop, or figuratively the light of the intellect.^[2] The feast of the Purification (2 February), when candles are blessed, became candelora, from Late Latin (festum) candelarum “feast of candles”, reshaped after (festum) cereorum “feast of wax tapers”; it is recorded as sante Marie candelorio in 1233.^[6][7]

Modern technical senses followed: the unit of luminous intensity (1892), the spark plug of engines (candela d'accensione 1909, candela alone 1918) and, in aviation, the vertical position of a plane in a dive or a climb (1941).^[6] In dialects the word names other long shapes: Lucchese candelotto is an icicle, and in Calabria candila is a tall straight poplar.^[4][9]

Essere alla candela “to be at death's door” comes from the hospital custom of leaving a small light beside the dying.^[6] The saying il gioco non vale la candela “the game is not worth the candle” is first found in Pavese;^[6][14] DELI suggests it arose where card players paid for the light, while the Treccani sees a translation of French le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle.^[6][14]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Ritmo cassinese has the first record.^[6]
• 1233 – Sante Marie candelorio, the Candlemas feast, is recorded in Matasalà's accounts.^[6]
• 1271 – Chandelliere “candlestick” appears in Florentine texts.^[6]
• 1272 – Chandelotto “thick candle” is recorded.^[6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses candelabro.^[6]
• 1892 – Candela is recorded as a unit of luminous intensity.^[6]
• 1909 – Candela d'accensione “spark plug” is recorded;^[6] candela alone follows in 1918.^[6]
• 1941 – The aviation sense is recorded in the Academy dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A candle: a cylinder of wax, stearin, paraffin or tallow with a wick along its axis, lit to give light: Durante il blackout abbiamo cenato con due candele sul tavolo.^[8][15][16]
2. (physics) The candela, the SI unit of luminous intensity (symbol cd).^[8][16][17]
3. (mechanics) A spark plug (candela di accensione).^[8][17][16]
4. (colloquial) Snot hanging from the nose.^[8][16][18]
5. (figurative) A pale, lanky person.^[8]
6. A long icicle-like formation of ice under a rock overhang.^[8]
7. (gymnastics) A shoulder stand, the body held upside down and vertical on the neck and shoulders.^[8][17][16]
8. (aviation) A vertical dive or climb, as an aerobatic figure.^[8][17][6]
9. (sport, a candela) Of a kick, high and vertical; of a dive, feet first and upright.^[15][16]

Word family

• candeliere
• candelabro
• candelora
• candelotto
• candelaio
• candeletta
• candelina
• candelaggio

Related words

• candido
• candeggiare
• Latin candēla
• French chandelle

Usage notes

Reggere or tenere la candela means to keep two lovers company, playing gooseberry;^[15][16][5] struggersi come una candela is to waste away from illness or grief;^[15][16][5] il gioco non vale la candela is said of an effort not worth its cost.^[15][16][5] Moccolo is a synonym.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 737
4. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 221
5. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 715
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
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 d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli