Etymologically
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chiusa

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkju.za/, /ˈkju.sa/[1]

Forms

chiusa f (plural chiuse)[1] Northern Old Italian texts have the forms Old Italian chiuxe and Old Italian cluxe.[2]

Etymology

It is the feminine of chiuso (“closed”), the past participle of chiudere (“to close”), used as a noun.[3][4][5][6][7][1] GDLI compares Medieval Latin clusa, recorded in 753, and the classical neuter plural Latin clausa (“enclosed places”).[8] The verb is Latin claudō (“to close”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *klaud- and Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u-d- (“to shut”), beside clāvis (“key”).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Bono Giamboni's Florentine translation of Orosius (1292); its first sense is a barrier that encloses a space, an enclosure.[2] DELI dates the sense “pen for keeping animals” to the 13th-century chronicle of Malispini.[3]

Semantic evolution

The enclosure led to the enclosed field, a shelter, a prison, and above all to works that hold back water: Old Italian already used the word for a weir that regulates the flow of a stream to drive a mill, and for a barrier across the mouth of a harbour.[2] Dino Compagni (1310–1312) uses it for a wooden barricade, and Giovanni Villani for a fortification.[3][8][10] In the 16th century it names a narrow mountain pass (1553), and in geography today the narrowing of a river valley.[3][5] Modern engineering uses it for a lock on a canal; the chiusa leonardesca, the canal lock with mitre gates, is named after Leonardo.[6][11]

The sense “ending of a poem or a speech” is recorded in Galileo, before 1642, and is still current.[3][12] Hunters also used chiusa for keeping decoy birds in a dark, cool place through the summer, so that they would sing in autumn.[5][6]

Timeline

  • 13th century – Malispini uses chiusa for an animal pen.[3]
  • 1292 – Bono Giamboni's translation of Orosius has the word.[2]
  • 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for a barricade.[3]
  • 1553 – It names a narrow mountain pass.[3]
  • Before 1642 – Galileo uses it for the ending of a piece of writing.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An enclosure, a fence or hedge around a field; the enclosed land itself.[5][6][12][1]
  2. (hydraulics) A weir or sluice across a river or canal; a canal lock: Il battello aspettò davanti alla chiusa.[5][6][12][1]
  3. (geography) A narrowing of a river valley, where its sides come close together.[5][6][13]
  4. The closing part of a letter, a speech or a literary work: La chiusa del discorso fu molto applaudita.[5][6][12][1]
  5. (hunting) Keeping decoy birds shut in a dark place in summer.[5][6]
  6. (archaic) A prison; a fortification.[5][6][11]

Usage notes

The same form is the feminine of the adjective chiuso.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  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 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. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana