chiosa

Forms

chiosa f (plural chiose)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin glōsa (“rare word that needs explaining”), a variant of glossa, borrowed from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “tongue; obscure or foreign word”).^[2][3][4][1] DEI and the GDLI call it semi-learned, and its learned doublet is glossa.^[5][6][1] The initial /gl/ became /kj/, written ⟨chi⟩.^[7]

DEI suggests that the word met Latin clausa (“parenthesis”), and Devoto and Sabatini–Coletti see a cross with that word or with clausula (“closing of a verse”).^[5][8][9]

The same Latin word gave French glose, Occitan glosa, Catalan glosa, Spanish glosa and Portuguese glosa.^[10][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the prose letters of Guittone d'Arezzo, who died in 1294, and DELI's is the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.^[11][2] The sense is an explanation of a difficult word or passage added to a text.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian distinguished general glosses, introducing a work or chapter, from particular glosses on single passages, and interlinear glosses written between the lines.^[11] In law chiosa was the commentary that explained the purpose of a rule, and the chiosa ordinaria was the standard commentary on a legal text.^[11] The word also came to mean an explanation in general: Dante writes queste son le chiose / di quel che ti fu detto “these are the glosses on what you were told”.^[11][12] Saint Bernardino of Siena preached Tempo è da fare il testo, e tempo è da fare la chiosa “there is a time to make the text and a time to make the gloss”.^[6]

The verb chiosare “to gloss” is recorded in the Fiore (1280–1310), and chiosatore “glossator” in Dante in 1293–94.^[2] A spiteful comment is also a chiosa: Luigi Pulci wrote ognun fa sopra me sue belle chiose “everyone makes his fine glosses about me”.^[13][9]

Timeline

• 1280–1310 – The Fiore has the verb chiosare.^[2]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses chiosatore.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses chiosa in his letters.^[11]
• End of the 1200s – The Novellino has the word.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – GRADIT's date for the word.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gloss: a note explaining a difficult word or passage of a text, in the margin or at the foot of the page.^{[4][14][13][1]}
2. (by extension, literary) An explanation, a comment.^[4][13][1]
3. (figurative) A spiteful or sarcastic comment.^[9][13][15]

Word family

• chiosare
• chiosatore

Related words

• glossa
• French glose

Usage notes

Chiosa also meant a large stain on clothes, especially of wine or grease, and a blotch on the skin;^[5][4][1] DEI dates this Tuscan sense to the 17th century and treats it as a separate word.^[5][4][1] Treccani derives it from chiosa “gloss”.^[12] From the 15th century chiose were also the small lead discs children played with in place of coins;^[5][7][10] Körting takes this sense from Latin clausa.^[5][7][10] The form glosa was still in use in Tommaseo's time.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 907
6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli