chiocciola

Forms

chiocciola f (plural chiocciole)^[1] Forms in the TLIO include Old Italian chiociola and Old Italian chiozola.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *clociola, a diminutive of *clocea, which is Latin cŏchlea (“snail; snail shell”) changed by metathesis.^[3][4][1] Nocentini gives the shorter form as Vulgar Latin, while GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and the GDLI treat it as a Late Latin variant of the classical word.^[4][5][6][7] Compare Sardinian còciola and Sicilian còzzula.^[1]

The Latin word is borrowed from Ancient Greek κοχλίας (kokhlías, “snail with a spiral shell”).^[8][1][5] Nocentini derives the Greek noun from κόγχη (kónkhē, “mussel, shell”), while Wiktionary and Zingarelli connect it with κόχλος (kókhlos, “shellfish; shell”).^[4][1][9]

This is the popular word beside the learned coclea, taken later from the same Latin noun.^[10][4] Nocentini traces coccia and cozza to the same Latin source.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo (1282), in the sense “snail's shell”.^[3][2] The animal itself is named by Bencivenni, before 1310.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian texts already use the word for the snail, for its shell, for a spiral staircase, for a spiral frieze in architecture and for a kind of cloak.^[2] Prati finds the staircase sense in Boccaccio.^[11] The spiral shape gave the later technical senses: the female screw in Cellini (before 1571) and the cochlea of the inner ear in Bartoli (1679).^[3] Machiavelli used chiocciole for a wheeling manoeuvre of troops, the caracole.^[12]

Modern dictionaries add the scroll at the head of a violin, a spiral bread roll made with oil, and pasta shells.^[6][12][1] The newest sense is the name of the sign @ in e-mail addresses, recorded in La Repubblica in January 1996.^[13][10]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses chiocciola for the snail's shell.^[3][2]
• Before 1310 – Bencivenni uses it for the snail.^[3]
• Before 1571 – Cellini uses it for a female screw.^[3]
• 1679 – Bartoli uses it for the cochlea of the ear.^[3]
• 1996 – La Repubblica calls the sign @ la famosa chiocciola.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) A snail: a land gastropod with a spiral shell large enough to hold the whole body, especially edible species such as Helix pomatia: Dopo il temporale le chiocciole uscivano sul muretto.^{[5][6][10][12]}
2. (architecture) A spiral staircase, short for scala a chiocciola.^[5][6][14]
3. (cooking) A spiral bread roll made with oil; in the plural, a kind of shell-shaped pasta.^[6][14][1]
4. (technology) A nut or female screw.^[6][9][10]
5. (music) The scroll at the top of the neck of a violin and other bowed instruments; also called riccio.^[6][10][9]
6. (anatomy) The cochlea of the inner ear.^[6][10][9]
7. (computing) The at sign @, used in e-mail addresses: Dopo la chiocciola va il nome del dominio.^{[6][10][9][1]}
8. (historical, military) A caracole, a wheeling manoeuvre of a body of troops.^[9][14]

Word family

• chiocciolina
• chiocciolino
• chiocciolaio
• acchiocciolare
• rinchiocciolire

Related words

• coclea
• coccia
• cozza
• lumaca
• Latin cochlea

Usage notes

DELI defines the chiocciola as the snail whose shell sets it apart from the lumaca.^[3] Fare come la chiocciola or fare una vita da chiocciola means to stay shut up at home.^[5][12] In mathematics the chiocciola di Pascal is the limaçon of Pascal, a conchoid of the circle.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 279
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2009
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana