conocchia

Forms

conocchia f (plural conocchie)^[1] Popular Tuscan has the variant canocchia.^[2][3][4] The LEI records it in Pisan from 1385–1395 and in Tasso.^[5] Old Italian forms include conochia and cunochia.^[6] Regional Tuscan has calocchia, which keeps the l of the Latin form.^[7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin conucla, a Late Latin form of classical Latin colucula, the diminutive of colus (“distaff”).^[8][1] The ⟨l⟩ of colucula was changed to ⟨n⟩ by dissimilation from the second ⟨l⟩.^{[8][9][10][1]} DELI and Zingarelli reconstruct the spoken form as Vulgar Latin *conicula or *conucula.^[9][11] The LEI notes that the form with ⟨l⟩ is recorded only in the glosses, as is conucula, and that Caesarius of Arles, who died in 542, writes conogla.^[7]

The same word is French quenouille and Occitan conolha,^[8][12] and Friulian conóle in Friulian.^[7] Sardinian has forms with ⟨r⟩ such as Sardinian kranuga, which the DEI thinks may keep the ⟨l⟩ form.^[12][13] The Latin word passed into Old Irish and into German, as Old High German chonachla and modern German Kunkel, and into Greek.^[13][12][14] Gascon and Old French also kept forms without the dissimilation.^[7]

Latin colus goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn”), the root of colō (“to till; to dwell”), and has an exact match in Ancient Greek πόλος (pólos, “pivot, axis”).^[8][13] De Vaan reconstructs *kʷelh₁-u- (“turning”), but notes that Walde and Hofmann hesitated over the comparison with the Greek word, since a distaff does not itself turn.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Purgatorio (21.25–27), written between 1313 and 1319, where Lachesis, who spins day and night, “had not yet drawn off the distaff [of wool] that Clotho loads for each person” (non gli avea tratta ancora la conocchia / che Cloto impone a ciascuno e compila).^[6][10][16] The image is that of the wool on the distaff, standing for the course of a human life.^[6][16]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used conocchia for the spinning tool itself, for the art of spinning and for the bundle of wool or flax wound on the distaff.^[6] The phrase trarre la conocchia (or le conocchie) meant “to spin”.^[6][11] Boccaccio's Ameto has a woman who did not give all her life to the distaff.^[17]

From the 17th century the DEI records technical senses: a toothed wheel in mechanics, and an incendiary rocket in military use.^[13] The LEI lists many transferred uses for plants, animals and parts of the body.^[7] In agriculture the word names a way of training vines in which several plants are tied together at the top, and in sailing a thickening near the foot of the smaller masts.^[10][2][3]

Timeline

• Before 542 – Late Latin conogla is recorded in Caesarius of Arles.^[7]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses conocchia in the Purgatorio.^[10][6]
• 1385–1395 – The Pisan Francesco da Buti uses canocchia.^[5]
• 15th century – sconocchiare is recorded.^[8]
• 1484–1494 – Roman inventories write chonochia.^[5]
• 1543 – Acarisio records conocchia in the sense “distaff”.^[5]
• 17th century – The word is used in mechanics for a toothed wheel.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The bundle of wool, flax, hemp or similar fibre wound on the distaff for spinning.^{[10][2][3][11]}
2. By extension, the distaff itself.^{[10][2][3][1]}
3. (agriculture) A way of training vines in which several plants are bound together at the top, so that the group looks like a distaff.^[10][2][3]
4. (nautical) A thickening a little above the foot of the smaller masts, used as a support or to hold the rigging.^[10]

Word family

• sconocchiare
• inconocchiare

Related words

• canocchia
• Latin colus
• French quenouille
• German Kunkel

Usage notes

GRADIT also lists conocchia as a variant of canocchia, the mantis shrimp.^[10] DELI derives that word from conocchia, for the animal's shape, while GRADIT derives it from canna.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 1106
6. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 1105
8. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1065
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ 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, 573
17. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET