chiocciare

Forms

chiocciare (first-person singular present chiòccio, first-person singular past historic chiocciài, past participle chiocciàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Ariosto has the old variant crocciare in the first sense.^[2]

Etymology

It is an imitative word.^[3][4][5] The TLIO, the GDLI, Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani see it as inherited from Late Latin clociāre, beside classical Latin glōcīre (“to cluck”), and Meyer-Lübke traces it to the classical verb itself.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Nocentini prefers the glossary forms glauciāre and glottiāre, which he compares with gluttīre and glocidāre, given by Paul the Deacon's epitome of Festus as imitations of a brooding hen.^[11] The LEI objects that the first of these does not fit the form of the Italian verb.^[12] Devoto saw a blend of Late Latin clocca and the classical verb, and Gabrielli and Wiktionary allow a back-formation from Italian chioccia.^[13][14][1] The LEI itself files the word among imitative forms of a stem ⸢klokk-⸣ meaning “bang, noise”.^[12]

Related imitative verbs are French glousser, dialect French clousser, Occitan closar, Spanish cloquear and Portuguese chocar.^[11][10][15] The Latin verb is itself imitative.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb before 1320.^[5] The TLIO's first record is the Sienese translation of the bestiary of the Tesoro, from the first half of the 14th century, where it is said of a hen's hoarse call when she broods or calls her chicks.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Crescenzi's treatise in Italian (about 1350) speaks of a hen leading young peacocks home col chiocciar.^[3][7] The verb was used for other birds too, and for things that make a similar sound, such as horseshoes on stone, which Treccani and GRADIT still note as an old or uncommon sense.^{[6][16][5][17]} In Old Italian it could also mean, figuratively, to brood over a hidden misdeed.^[6]

From the hen's brooding came the sense “to sit on eggs” (before 1597, Soderini), and Pascoli wrote le galline chiocciarono, e venne Marzo.^[3][17] From the hen's huddled posture came the sense of a person crouching, especially by the fire or when falling ill; old writers also used it for feeling unwell or complaining.^{[5][18][16][2]} The derivative chioccio, “hoarse”, already appears in Dante.^[3]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – GRADIT's date for the verb.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the related adjective chioccio “hoarse”.^[3]
• 1300–1350 – A Sienese translation of the bestiary of the Tesoro uses chiocciare.^[6]
• c. 1350 – Crescenzi's treatise in Italian uses it of a hen.^[3]
• Before 1597 – G. Soderini uses it for “to brood”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of a brooding hen, to give its hoarse, harsh call; to cluck, also of other birds: nel pollaio una gallina chiocciava senza sosta.^{[5][18][4][1]}
2. To brood, to sit on eggs.^[5][8][1]
3. (figurative) Of a person, to sit huddled up like a brooding hen, especially by the fire or when falling ill.^[5][18][17]
4. (uncommon) Of horseshoes, to make a grating sound.^[5][17]

Word family

• chioccio
• chioccia
• chiocciata
• dichiocciarsi

Related words

• accoccolarsi
• Latin glocio

Usage notes

The verb is intransitive and takes avere; the present is io chioccio.^[18][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 279
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 82
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 81
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
16. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
17. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
18. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier