chiusura

Forms

chiusura f (plural chiusure)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian closura, Old Italian clusura, Old Italian clesura and Old Italian chisura.^[2] Venetian cesura means a small farm.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin clūsūra, a variant of Latin clausūra (“enclosure”), from claudō (“to shut”).^[5][6][1][7] Medieval Latin clusura is recorded at Tivoli in 945.^[6][4] The LEI notes that both forms already existed in Latin, the one with ⟨u⟩ being the more common, and that the dissimilated forms Medieval Latin clesura and Medieval Latin clasura arose beside them, much as augustus became agustus.^[8] The form with ⟨e⟩ is recorded at Bologna in 1121 and at Imola in 1154.^[4]

The word is also Old French closure, Old Occitan clausura and Catalan closura, the last recorded in 949, and Sursilvan clasira “hedge”.^[8] Sardinian cresura is the wall round a field, recorded from the 10th century, and Byzantine Greek borrowed the word for a narrow gorge, a sense that survives in the Calabrian place name ⟨Crisura⟩.^[4] Italian also has the learned doublet clausura, which keeps the Latin diphthong.^[1][9][8]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *klaudō and to Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u-d- (“to shut”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Cremonese plural closure in Uguccione da Lodi's Libro, early 13th century, for a fenced plot of land.^[2][8] The Tuscan form chiusura is in the Fiore at the end of the 13th century, for an enclosed piece of land and the fence round it.^[8] DELI's first date is 1310–1312, in Dino Compagni, for something that blocks an opening.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word named a fence or enclosure, a fortified place, a prison, the enclosure of religious houses, a weir on a river, a barrier at a harbour mouth and the lock of a door.^[2] Boccaccio speaks of the walls of a town: dentro alla chiusura di Fiesole.^[12] The sense “an enclosed place” is in a 14th-century vernacular Bible.^[11]

The modern senses grew from the act of closing: the end of a debate, the closing time of a shop, the closing of accounts and of the stock exchange.^[6][7][12] Chiusura lampo, the zip, is a 20th-century name for an American invention.^[4] The political sense, refusal of any agreement or cooperation with opponents, is recorded in 1964 in G. Bocca.^[11]

Timeline

• 945 – Medieval Latin clusura is recorded at Tivoli.^[6][4]
• 949 – Old Catalan closura is recorded.^[8]
• 1121 – Medieval Latin clesura is recorded at Bologna.^[4]
• Early 1200s – Uguccione da Lodi uses Cremonese closure.^[2][8]
• 1287 – Zingarelli's date for the first record of chiusura.^[12]
• Late 1200s – The Fiore uses chiusura for an enclosed plot.^[8]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses the word for what blocks an opening.^[11][6]
• 1900s – Chiusura lampo names the zip.^[4]
• 1964 – G. Bocca uses the political sense.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of closing or of being closed: the closing of a door or a road.^[6][7][12]
2. End, conclusion: the close of a debate or of the school year.^[6][9]
3. The closing or shutdown of a business or service; closing time: orario di chiusura.^[6][7][9]
4. A fastening, a device for closing: chiusura lampo, a zip.^[6][12][9]
5. (firearms) The breech mechanism of a gun.^[6][12]
6. (politics) Refusal to cooperate or talk with opposing parties; a country's isolation.^[6][9][12]
7. Closed-mindedness: chiusura mentale.^[6][12]
8. (mathematics) The closure of a set.^[6][9]
9. (phonetics) Closure of the vocal tract, and the degree of closure of a vowel.^[6][13]
10. (obsolete) An enclosure; a prison.^[12][2]

Word family

• richiusura

Related words

• chiuso
• clausura
• chiudere
• chiusa

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 913
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 14, 1255
9. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)