chiamata

Forms

chiamata f (plural chiamate)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the verb chiamare with the suffix -ata, or is the feminine past participle used as a noun.^[2][3][4][5] The verb, recorded in 1219, is inherited from Latin clāmō (“to shout, call out”), from the same root as calō (“to call, summon”).^[5][6][7] De Vaan takes the verb from a lost noun meaning “shout”, from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call”);^[7][6][1] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō, “to call”).^[7][6][1] The verb is found across the Romance languages: Old French clamer, Occitan clamar, Catalan clamar, Spanish llamar, Portuguese chamar and Romanian chema.^[6][8]

The participle is matched by Spanish llamada and Portuguese chamada.^[9] Körting reports that in the sense of a drum signal announcing a wish to surrender, the Italian word was borrowed as French chamade.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is a Florentine text of 1294, for the act or manner of calling.^[5] GRADIT dates it to Matteo Villani (before 1363), who wrote of the calling of King Louis to Messina by the Sicilians (la chiamata a Messina del re Luigi).^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

In the following centuries the word was used for an invitation to come somewhere or to take up a post, as in Baldinucci, for a summons to an office or authority, and for a doctor's call to a patient.^[10] Tommaseo noted avere una chiamata alla polizia and the phrase rispondere senza chiamata, to meddle in something that does not concern one.^[11]

Printers used chiamata from 1758 for a mark that draws attention to a correction or addition, and, from before 1835 it was the applause by which an audience calls singers and actors back on stage;^[12] German borrowed both senses in the 1870s.^[12] In Neapolitan theatre a chiamata was the cue, the last words of one actor before another speaks.^[8] With the telephone it came to mean a phone call and the ringing that announces it.^[2][13][4]

Timeline

• 1219 – The verb chiamare is first recorded.^[5]
• 1294 – Chiamata appears in a Florentine text.^[5]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it for the calling in of a king.^[2][10]
• 1758 – It is used in printing for a reference mark.^[12]
• Before 1835 – It is used for a curtain call.^[12]
• 1876 – German borrows Chiamata as a theatre word.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A call, the act of calling or being called: Non ha risposto alla mia chiamata.^[2][14][4]
2. A summons, an invitation to come or present oneself, chiamata alle armi: call-up, chiamata (alla ribalta): a curtain call.^[2][13][14]
3. A telephone call; the ringing that announces it: Ho tre chiamate perse.^[2][13][3]
4. An appointment to an office, chiamata a cattedra: an invitation to fill a university chair.^[2][14]
5. A vocation, a calling: la chiamata al sacerdozio.^[2][13][14]
6. (law) chiamata in causa: the joining of a third party to a lawsuit, chiamata di correo: an accusation of complicity made by a defendant.^[13][14][4]
7. (printing) A mark that refers to a correction or note; in old books, a catchword at the foot of a page.^[3][4][15]
8. (cards) A conventional signal asking one's partner to play a certain card.^[2][14]
9. (riding) A pull on the reins; each of the rings at the side of the bit.^[2][3][15]

Related words

• chiamare
• chiama
• richiamo
• French chamade

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 14, 983
9. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ 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. 3, 46
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli