ciabatta

Forms

ciabatta f (plural ciabatte)^[1] An old and regional form is Old Italian ciavatta.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[5][6][3] DELI thinks it probably came from the East.^[7][3] Devoto–Oli thinks it is probably borrowed from Tatar чабата (čabata, “slipper”), and Wiktionary also gives the Tatar word, with the meaning “overshoes”.^[8][1] Treccani and DEI derive it from Persian through Turkish, and Wiktionary compares Persian چپت (čapat), a kind of leather shoe.^{[9][10][1][11]} DEI thinks the word spread from Venice.^[10] The related words are Venetian zavata, Lombard sciavatta, French savate (from the 12th century), Occitan sabata and Catalan sabata “shoe”, Spanish zapata, Spanish zapato and Portuguese sapato.^[12][11][10]

Nocentini rejects the eastern origin.^[12] He separates the Iberian words, recorded from the 10th century, whose ⟨-p-⟩ cannot match the ⟨-v-⟩ of French or the ⟨-b-⟩ of Italian, and for which Corominas proposes an imitative ⟨tsap⟩, the sound of a clog on the ground.^[12] The Persian form that Schuchardt started from is not attested, and the Tatar word, which can be explained from a verb meaning “to wrap”, explains the Slavic words such as Polish czobot “boot” but not the Romance ones.^[12] The Italian word is found as a Tuscan nickname in the 12th century, before Venice and Genoa traded with the Tatars of the Black Sea.^[12] He derives it instead from Late Latin sōga (“rope, leather strap”), as a Tuscan adaptation of Emilian zavata, from an earlier *sovatta, supported by sovatto “leather strap”.^[12]

Older proposals include Diez's Arabic origin and Scheler's Germanic stem, both doubted by Körting, and Tommaseo's imitative sound of a slipper dragged along.^[13][14] GDLI thinks of a Spanish origin, where Medieval Latin zapatones is found in the 10th and 11th centuries.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ciabatta is found as a personal name in a Farfa document of 1008.^[7] As a common noun it is first recorded in Franco Sacchetti's Trecentonovelle (second half of the 14th century), for a shoe open at the heel: non è l'arte tua di cucire ciabatte e fare calzari (“sewing slippers and making shoes is not your trade”).^[7][6][4]

Semantic evolution

The word soon also meant a worn-out shoe, and by extension anything old and worthless (before 1484, Pulci).^[7][4] Tuscan proverbs say non fu mai sì bella scarpa che non diventasse una ciabatta, that time wears out everything.^[14][9] Derivatives followed: ciabattino “cobbler” (before 1400, Sacchetti), ciabattaio (1508, Ariosto), ciabattone “botcher” (before 1571, Cellini) and ciabattare “to shuffle about in slippers” (1853).^[7]

In the 20th century the word was given to a flat, long loaf of bread and to a power strip, both from their likeness to a slipper.^[1][5] GDLI has the power strip from 1997.^[4] English took the bread as ciabatta in 1985, and it was also borrowed into German, Spanish and Portuguese.^[15][1][16]

Timeline

• 1008 – Ciabatta appears as a personal name at Farfa.^[7]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses ciabatta and ciabattino.^[7][6]
• Before 1484 – Pulci uses it for a worn-out, worthless thing.^[7]
• 1508 – Ariosto uses ciabattaio.^[7]
• 1853 – Ciabattare is recorded.^[7]
• 1985 – English ciabatta (the bread) is recorded.^[15]
• 1997 – Ciabatta is recorded for a power strip.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slipper with no heel, open at the back: Si è messo le ciabatte appena tornato a casa.^[5][8][2]
2. (by extension) An old, worn-out shoe.^[5][8][3]
3. (figurative, derogatory) An old or broken-down thing or person.^[5][8][3]
4. (regional) ciabatta, a flat, long loaf of crusty bread.^[5][2][3]
5. (electricity) A power strip, a flat block of electric sockets.^[8][2][3]
6. In animal-drawn carts, a wooden block that slows the movement of the brake.^[5][8][9]

Word family

• ciabattino
• ciabattaio
• ciabattare
• ciabattone
• ciabattata
• ciabatteria
• ciabattina

Related words

• soga
• French savate
• Spanish zapato

Usage notes

Stare in ciabatte is to be at home dressed for comfort, and to wear shoes a ciabatta is to wear them with the back folded under the heel.^[5][17] Stimare quanto una ciabatta is to think nothing of something or someone.^[5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 914
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli