cengia

Forms

cengia f (plural cenge)^[1] A masculine cengio is also used, with the augmentative cengione.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a word of the northern dialects, inherited from Latin cingula (“belt”), the feminine form beside cingulum.^{[5][6][7][8][4]} Sabatini–Coletti posits Vulgar Latin *cingla.^[2] The northern change of ⟨gl⟩ to the sound of ⟨gi⟩ gives this form, where Tuscan has cinghia.^[9][6] That word and cingolo are its doublets.^[1]

The geographical sense is old in the north: Medieval Latin zengla is recorded at Costozza in 1290 and cengla at Verona in 1313.^[5][10][7] DEI notes Old Italian cengia (“belt”) at Piacenza in the 13th century, and similar forms in the Alpine dialects.^[10]

cingulum is formed cingō (“to gird, surround”) with the instrument suffix -ulum.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Panzini's dictionary of 1908 gives cengia as a Piedmontese word, used in mountaineers' jargon for a small rocky shelf on the side of a mountain; the 1942 edition calls it northern.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The word spread with mountaineering: a ledge along a steep rock face, often formed where a harder horizontal layer crops out, that lets a climber cross the face or rest.^[3][12] In the 20th century it appears in Slataper's description of boulders with their cengie and Buzzati's snow whitening the gravel of a cengia.^[4] A second sense is a stretch of level grassy ground between cliffs.^[8][4][10]

Timeline

• 1290 – Medieval Latin zengla is recorded at Costozza.^[5][7]
• 1313 – Medieval Latin cengla is recorded at Verona.^[5][10]
• 1908 – Panzini's dictionary records cengia as a Piedmontese mountaineering word.^[5][6][7]
• 1942 – Panzini's dictionary calls it northern.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mountaineering) A narrow, nearly level ledge on a steep rock face, used to cross it: Abbiamo traversato la parete lungo una cengia esposta.^{[12][2][3][1]}
2. A level stretch of mountain ground between cliffs.^[8][4]

Word family

• cengione

Related words

• cinghia
• cingolo
• cingere
• Latin cingulum

Usage notes

The e is pronounced closed or open.^[2][8] GRADIT gives cornice as the general word.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 851
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ 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