Etymologically
Log in

cima

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Italian word cima

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1175–1200 Proverbia que dicuntur (Venetian) More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin cyma
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek κύω
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma)
Latin cȳma
Italian cima
Spanish cima
The word's journey
From the same root
Spanish cimarrón ← cȳma

Pronunciation

  • /ˈt͡ʃi.ma/[1]

Forms

cima f (plural cime)[1] Forms in the earliest texts include Old Italian chima, çima and zima.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cȳma (“young shoot of cabbage”), which is from Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma, “swelling; sprout; wave”), from κύω (kúō, “to be pregnant”).[3][4][5][1] DELI and Zingarelli take the Greek noun as a secondary form of κύημα (kúēma, “fetus”).[3][6] The same word is French cime, Occitan cima, Catalan cima, Spanish cima, Portuguese cima and Sardinian chima.[4][7][8]

The OLD gives the Latin word only for the spring shoots of cabbage; the sense “top, summit” belongs to popular Latin.[9][10] Meyer-Lübke sets the Romance words meaning “summit” under a form Latin cima.[7] DEI notes that the old sense “sprout, broccoli” survives in southern Italy.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the last quarter of the 12th century.[2] DELI's first record is Guido Guinizelli, before 1276, with the sense “highest part, top, summit”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini, before 1294, used cima for the extreme end of something and for the highest degree;[3] Antonio Pucci, before 1388, for the most eminent person, the best of a group.[3] Dante used it for the tip of a flame and of a tower.[12] The familiar è una cima “he is brilliant” continues that sense.[5][13]

In seafaring the word came to mean the end of a rope and then a hemp rope, recorded in 1602 in Bartolomeo Crescenzio;[3][11] DEI treats it as a separate word from cima, and says it passed into Modern Greek and Turkish.[3][11] Botany uses cima for a cyme, and Genoese cooking for a stuffed breast of veal.[5][13]

Timeline

  • 1175–1200 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur use the word.[2]
  • Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses cima for a summit.[3]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for an extreme end and the highest degree.[3]
  • Before 1388 – Antonio Pucci uses it for the most eminent person.[3]
  • 1602 – Bartolomeo Crescenzio uses it for a hemp rope.[3]
  • 1717 – Tracimare “to overflow” is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The top or highest part of something: in cima al faro.[5][14][6]
  2. The summit or peak of a mountain.[5][6]
  3. (figurative) The highest degree, the height.[5][6]
  4. (colloquial) A person who excels: una cima in latino.[5][13]
  5. The edge or end of something.[5][6]
  6. (nautical) A rope or line, especially of vegetable fibre.[5][13][6]
  7. (botany) A cyme, an inflorescence whose side branches overtop the main axis.[5][13]
  8. (cooking) Cima alla genovese, a stuffed breast of veal boiled and served cold.[5][13]

Word family

  • cimare
  • cimatore
  • cimatrice
  • cimatura
  • cimarolo
  • tracimare
  • tracimazione
  • cimato
  • cimoso
  • Latin cyma
  • French cime

Usage notes

Da cima a fondo means “from top to bottom, completely”, and cime di rapa are turnip tops.[6][15] Cimiero, the crest of a helmet, is from French cimier, itself formed on French cime.[16][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  11. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 937
  12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  13. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  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. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  16. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 289

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cima.” Etymologically, 10 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/cima. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·