cipolla

Forms

cipolla f (plural cipolle, diminutive cipollìna or cipollétta, augmentative cipollóne m, pejorative cipollàccia or cipollàccio m)^[1] Old Italian forms include cepolla, cipulla and the northern cevola and civolla.^[2][3] GRADIT dates the old form cepolla before 1306.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cēpulla (“little onion”), a diminutive of Latin cēpa (“onion”).^[5][6][4][1] The diminutive is first recorded in Apicius in the 3rd century.^[3] From the 4th century it replaced the simple word in most of the Romance area; that word survives in Italy only in a few relic forms.^[3][7]

The same diminutive gave Occitan cebola, Spanish cebolla, Portuguese cebola, Friulian cevòle, Romansh tschiguolla and the Vegliote kapul.^[6][3][8] German Zwiebel goes back to it too, through Old High German zibollo.^[3] A variant cēpula with the stress on the first syllable continues in northern Italy, in Venetian cèola.^[3] Meyer-Lübke saw no need for that variant, explaining the Venetian stress from the hiatus.^[8]

The Latin word is probably a borrowing from an unknown language.^[9][5][6] The same word may be reflected in Ancient Greek κάπια (kápia, “onions”), a word Hesychius gives for the people of Ceryneia.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century.^[2] DELI dates the word to 1233, in Matasalà, for the onion plant with its bulb of fleshy layers and sharp smell.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the onion was a byword for something cheap: valere una cipolla meant to be worth almost nothing.^[2] Boccaccio's Decameron speaks of a land that grows onions famose per tutta Toscana (“famous throughout Tuscany”).^[10] Around 1350 the Italian Crescenzi used the word for the bulb of other plants as well.^[5]

From the shape came several transferred senses: the round reservoir of an oil or paraffin lamp, the perforated rose of a watering can, a chignon, a bunion, and in Tuscany the gizzard of a chicken.^[4][11][12] The joking sense “large old pocket watch” is recorded from 1855.^[5] Migliorini explained it from an English pocket watch of the later 18th century kept in three nested cases, like the layers of an onion.^[5] Cipollino, a veined marble, was named in 1550 for veins that recall a cut onion.^[5][6] The phrase mangiare pane e cipolla “to eat bread and onions” means to live poorly.^[13][12]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur have the word.^[2]
• 1233 – Matasalà uses cipolla.^[5][13]
• 1286 – Cipolla appears in a Florentine register.^[3]
• c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for the bulb of other plants.^[5]
• 1359 – Medieval Latin cevollarius “onion seller” is recorded at Forlì.^[5]
• 1550 – Vasari names cipollino marble.^[5]
• 1855 – Fanfani records cipolla for a large pocket watch.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The onion (Allium cepa), a plant with cylindrical leaves grown for its bulb.^{[4][11][13][1]}
2. The bulb of this plant, eaten raw or cooked and used to flavour dishes: Taglia due cipolle per il sugo.^[4][11][14]
3. The bulb of other plants, such as the tulip or lily.^[4][15][13]
4. A round object or part shaped like an onion, such as the rose of a watering can or the reservoir of an oil lamp: a cipolla “onion-shaped”.^[4][11][13]
5. (colloquial, humorous) A large old pocket watch.^{[4][15][13][1]}
6. (figurative) A chignon.^[4][11]
7. (colloquial) A bunion.^[4][11]
8. (Tuscany) The gizzard of a chicken or other bird.^[4][12]

Word family

• cipollina
• cipollino
• cipollotto
• cipolletta
• cipollone
• cipollaio
• cipollato
• cipollata
• cipollatura
• cipollaccio

Related words

• cipolloso
• Latin cepa
• Spanish cebolla

Usage notes

Vestirsi a cipolla means to dress in layers for changing weather.^[11][13] Velo di cipolla is the thin outer skin of the bulb.^[14][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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 942
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 933
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 172
11. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse