coglione

Forms

coglione m (plural coglioni)^[1] Old Italian forms include coglone, colione and southern cugliuni.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cōleō (“testicle”), a noun of the Latin glossaries, with the stem ⟨cōleōn-⟩, formed on classical cōleus (“testicle; scrotum”).^[3][4][5][1] Nocentini reconstructs the spoken form as *coleōnem, and the LEI notes that the glossary word is already recorded in the Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum.^[6][7] Meyer-Lübke found two senses there, “testicle” and “castrated man, coward”.^[8]

The word is found across the western Romance area: French couillon, Occitan colhon, Catalan colló, Spanish cojón, Friulian cojòn and Romansh cugliun.^[6][8][7] DEI notes that it is missing from Romanian and Sardinian, which kept descendants of the classical noun instead.^[9][8] Everywhere it also came to mean “fool, good-for-nothing”, as most words for the genitals did.^[6][7]

The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^[3][10] Wiktionary connects it with cōlō (“to strain”) and with culleus (“leather sack”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Storie de Troia e de Roma, a Roman text of 1252–1258, in the sense “testicle”.^[2] DELI's first example is Bono Giamboni, before 1292, who tells how the wild ass attacks its male foals “to take off their testicles” (per levarli li coglioni).^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word in botany, for a part of a plant shaped like a testicle.^[2] The figurative sense “fool, simpleton” is recorded from Pietro Aretino in 1526.^[3][12] Tommaseo still records an obsolete term of fortification, the coglioni of bastions, and remarks that he leaves out most of “this fertile family” of words.^[13] DEI adds a nautical coglione, the foot of a mast, adapted from Venetian cogion (17th century).^[14]

Derivatives came with the figurative sense: coglioneria (16th century), coglionare “to make fun of” and coglionella (17th century), and much later rincoglionire (1863) and scoglionare “to annoy” (1882).^[6][9] The dialects have the word everywhere, from Friulian cojòn to Roman cojone (Belli, 1834) and Sicilian cugghiuni.^[7]

French took the sense “fool” from northern Italian: coïon and its derivatives date from the 16th century, and DIFIT records couillon in this sense from 1560.^[9][12] German Kujon “scoundrel” comes from the French word.^[12]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – First record, in the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses coglioni for the testicles of the wild ass.^[3]
• 1526 – Pietro Aretino uses the word for a fool.^[3]
• 1560 – French couillon “fool” is recorded, after the Italian word.^[12]
• 16th century – Coglioneria appears.^[6]
• 1863 – Rincoglionire is first recorded.^[6]
• 1882 – Scoglionare “to annoy” is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (vulgar, usually in the plural) testicle.^{[4][5][15][1]}
2. (vulgar, figurative) idiot, a stupid and useless person, used chiefly as an insult; feminine cogliona: Sono stato un coglione a fidarmi di lui.^{[4][5][15][1]}
3. (vulgar) Also as an adjective, silly, foolish, and in older use good-natured, meek.^[5][16][10]

Word family

• coglionare
• coglionella
• coglioneria
• coglionata
• rincoglionire
• rincoglionimento
• scoglionare
• scoglionato

Related words

• coglia
• Latin coleus
• French couillon

Usage notes

The plural forms many vulgar phrases: rompere i coglioni (to pester someone), far girare i coglioni (to make someone angry), stare sui coglioni (to be unbearable to someone), levarsi dai coglioni (to clear off) and avere i coglioni (to have guts, to be capable).^[4][10][16] In the plural it is also an interjection of surprise or anger.^[16] Fare la figura del coglione is to make a fool of oneself.^[4][5]

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 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 e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 673
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1003
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 264
12. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1004
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli