cicala

Forms

cicala f (plural cicale)^[1] Old Italian forms include cigala, chicala and cicaglie, and the plural cicade.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cicāla (“cicada”), a popular variant of classical Latin cicāda (“cicada”), recorded in glosses of the 9th century.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][1]} The classical form survives only sporadically in Italy, as in Ticinese scigada.^[8]

The variant in -l- is the base of most Romance forms: Romanian cicoare, Friulian cïàle, Old Occitan cigala, whence French cigale, Catalan cigala and Sardinian kígula.^[8][4][9] Spanish cigarra and Portuguese cigarra point to a variant *cicāra.^[8][4] The LEI notes that the REW and the FEW start from a long ⟨i⟩, but Latin metre shows a short one, so the Romance forms may rest on a dialect form already in Latin, and that a type with a nasal, Ligurian zingala, is matched by Albanian gjinkallë.^[8]

The Latin word is probably an onomatopoeic formation with reduplication, perhaps borrowed.^[10][4][1] DELI calls it pre-Indo-European, and DEI a Mediterranean relic like Ancient Greek τέττιξ (téttix, “cicada”).^[3][11][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Garzo, about 1225.^[3] The Storie de Troia e de Roma (Rome, 1252–1258) have the plural cicade: Non potea dormire per lo cantare de le cicade (he could not sleep for the singing of the cicadas).^[2][12][13] The sense is the large winged insect whose males sing in the heat of summer.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio's Decameron opens a summer afternoon in which nothing is heard che le cicale su per gli ulivi (but the cicadas in the olive trees).^[14][12] Old Italian phrases include avere la testa piena di cicale, to be confused, and valere una cicala, to be worthless.^[2] A talkative person has been a cicala since Antonio Pucci, before 1388.^[3] From this came cicalare “to chatter” (before 1484), cicalata, a long idle speech and in the academies of the 16th–18th centuries an elegant speech on a frivolous subject, and cicaleccio.^[3] The poets Alamanni, Ariosto and Monti used the Latinism cicada.^[13]

The iron ring at the top of an anchor was named for its shape, probably from Venice, as cigalla in 1715 and cicala in 1797; the cicala di mare, a crustacean, seems to have spread from Naples.^[3] The electric buzzer cicalino dates from 1942.^[3][13] The improvident cicada of La Fontaine's fable gave the sense of a spendthrift.^[15][5]

English borrowed cicala from Italian and Provençal by 1784.^[16] Middle High German schigalen appears in a translation of Boccaccio of about 1473.^[8]

Timeline

• About 1225 – Garzo uses cicala.^[3]
• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma have the plural cicade.^[2]
• Before 1388 – Antonio Pucci calls a chatterbox a cicala.^[3]
• Before 1484 – Cicalare “to chatter” is recorded.^[3]
• 1715 – Cigalla is recorded for the ring of an anchor.^[3]
• 1784 – English cicala is first recorded.^[16]
• 1942 – Cicalino “buzzer” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) A cicada, especially Lyristes plebejus, whose males make a loud shrill sound in summer.^{[5][17][15][1]}
2. (figurative) A chatterbox who talks at length about trivial things.^[5][17][18]
3. (figurative) A spendthrift, an improvident person.^[5][18][17]
4. A cicalino, an electric buzzer.^[5][18][6]
5. (nautical) The ring at the top of an anchor's shank to which the chain is fastened.^{[5][17][15][1]}
6. (history) A golden spiral ornament worn in the hair by wealthy ancient Athenians.^[5][17][19]
7. (regional, northern) A clothes peg.^[5][17][19]
8. (regional) A wooden rattle, a battola.^[17][19]
9. (regional, Tuscany, vulgar) The vulva.^[17][1]
10. (zoology) Cicala di mare: the canocchia (mantis shrimp) and other marine crustaceans.^[17][15][18]

Word family

• cicaleccio
• cicalino
• cicalare
• cicalata
• cicalio
• madrecicala
• cicalina
• cicalone
• cicalaio
• cicaleggiare

Related words

• Latin cicāda
• French cigale

Usage notes

Fare come la cicala is to live without thought for the future, after La Fontaine's fable of the cicada and the ant.^[15] The old phrase grattare la pancia alla cicala meant to provoke someone into talking.^[15][19] Cicala is also an Italian surname, from the nickname for a talkative person.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 924
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 118
13. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 285
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ 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
18. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
19. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)