casupola

Forms

casupola f (plural casupole)^[1]

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as formed from Italian casa with a diminutive and pejorative ending whose formation is obscure.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} DELI lists it among the derivatives of the base.^[7] The older form is casipola, recorded in Domenico Cavalca before 1342, and the form with -u- is first found in Giovan Maria Cecchi before 1587.^[7] GRADIT calls the origin uncertain and compares the Latin diminutives below.^[8]

Nocentini derives it from Late Latin casubla itself, a syncopated form of a diminutive *casubula of casa (“hut; country house”), recorded in the 6th century in the transferred sense “hooded cloak”.^[9] Meyer-Lübke put the Italian word with Portuguese casebre (“hovel”) under Latin casubla (“little house”), noting that it is recorded in the Tironian notes with an unknown meaning and may stand for *casupla.^[10][11] DEI also starts from a Vulgar Latin diminutive and connects it with a hut with a round roof.^[12] Devoto saw a blend of the word for house with cupula (“small cask”), the diminutive of cupa.^[13]

In the sense “cloak” the Latin word gave French chasuble, Spanish casulla and Romanian căciulă (“fur cap”).^[9][10] Italian casula, the vestment, is a learned form of Latin casŭla (“hut”), the Latin diminutive, which otherwise survives only in Italy.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Domenico Cavalca's Specchio di croce, written at Pisa before 1342, says that Abraham lived in casipule, cioè in tende ed in trabacche (in hovels, that is in tents and huts that could be carried), the only use of the word in the TLIO's corpus, in the sense of a modest dwelling or hut.^[15][7]

Semantic evolution

Both forms lived on side by side: casipola is used by Ariosto and Cecchi, and Cecchi also has casupola, while Oudin's dictionary adds casuppa.^[11] Tommaseo describes casupola as a diminutive with contempt, a house even meaner than a casipola, and cites Salvini's remark that a small house is called a casupola.^[16] Dialects have similar forms, such as Bolognese casupla and southern Calabrian casùppula and casùmpula “hovel”.^[12] Today the word names a small, modest house, especially one where poor people live.^[8][2]

Timeline

• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses casipola.^[7][15]
• Before 1587 – Giovan Maria Cecchi uses casupola.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, poor, run-down house; a hovel or hut.^{[8][4][5][2][1]}

Related words

• casa
• casipola
• casolare
• casula

Usage notes

The stress is on the second syllable, casùpola, and the s may be voiced or voiceless.^[6][1] Casipola is a variant.^[6] Diminutives are casupoletta and casupolina.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
3. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 254
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 801
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
15. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET