carriola

Forms

carriola f (plural carriole)^[1] Popular cariola.^[2][3][4] The older form is Old Italian carriuola.^[5][6][7]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian carro (“cart”) + -ola, as a diminutive.^{[2][4][8][1][7]} GRADIT derives it instead from Medieval Latin carreum, a variant of Latin carrus, with the same suffix.^[9] Sabatini–Coletti calls it a word of the northern dialects.^[3] Its early records come from the north: the first Italian one is a Venetian document of 1315, a Medieval Latin form is found in Lombardy as early as the 11th century, and cariola is recorded at Ferrara in 1371.^[5][10][11]

The Latin word, which named the four-wheeled cart, is a word of Gaulish origin that came in with the vehicle itself.^[11][12] Nocentini relates it to the root of currus (“two-wheeled chariot”) and currō (“to run”), Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s- (“to run”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Venetian document of 1315 uses the word for a hand-cart for carrying goods.^[5] Old Italian also used it for a wheeled stretcher for the sick.^[5]

Semantic evolution

F. Sacchetti uses carriola before 1400, and by the time of L. Magalotti, before 1712, the word also meant the load such a barrow holds.^[11] Later writers list carriole among builders' tools and describe porters loading baggage on them.^[7]

Another sense, recorded before 1431, was a low bed on castors kept under an ordinary bed and pulled out at night: the letto a carriola, trundle bed.^[10][4] Tommaseo gives this as the first sense in the 19th century, and also a wheeled cot for small children.^[13] Sabatini–Coletti adds a baby walker among the old senses.^[3] The one-wheeled cart of the travelling knife-grinder is now dated.^[2][8]

In jest carriola is an old, battered car.^[9][14] The figurative ungere la carriola, to win someone's help with gifts or money, is a variant of ungere le ruote.^[4][8]

The word passed into Byzantine and modern Greek as καριόλα (karióla), into Ottoman Turkish (modern Turkish karyola) and through Turkish into Arabic and Armenian.^[1] German borrowed the sense “small bed on castors” as Kariol.^[10] The word French carriole (1587, a country cart) is traced by the French dictionaries to Italian or to Old Occitan.^[10]

Timeline

• 11th century – The word is recorded in Medieval Latin in Lombardy.^[10]
• 1315 – A Venetian document has the first Italian record.^[5]
• 1371 – Medieval Latin cariola is recorded at Ferrara.^[11]
• Before 1400 – F. Sacchetti uses carriola.^[11][9]
• Before 1431 – The sense “small bed on castors” is recorded.^[10]
• 1587 – French carriole is recorded for a country cart.^[10]
• Before 1712 – L. Magalotti uses the word for the load of a barrow.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. wheelbarrow: a small hand-cart with one wheel in front and two handles behind.^{[9][6][14][1]}
2. A barrowload: the amount a wheelbarrow holds: Ci vorranno tre carriole di sabbia.^[9][6][14]
3. (figurative, humorous) An old, broken-down vehicle, especially a car: jalopy.^[9][14]
4. (dated) The one-wheeled cart of a travelling knife-grinder (arrotino).^[9][6][2]
5. (historical) Short for letto a carriola: trundle bed.^[9][4][1]

Word family

• carriolata
• carriolante
• carriolare
• scarriolare

Related words

• carro
• carretta
• carretto
• Latin carrus

Usage notes

Tirare la carriola means to toil hard.^[8][9] The spelling with one r, cariola, is popular.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f g Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana