cucchiaio

Forms

cucchiaio m (plural cucchiai, diminutive cucchiaiétto or (more common) cucchiaìno, augmentative cucchiaióne, pejorative cucchiaiàccio, derogatory cucchiaiùccio)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cochleārium, a derivative of cochlear (“spoon”), from cochlea (“snail”).^[2][3][4][1] The name comes from the use of the tool: it served to eat snails, and DEI, following Martial, says that it had a pointed end to pick them out of the shell.^[5][3] Varro already used the word for a container for snails.^[2][6][5][3] Wiktionary also mentions the concave shape, or a first spoon made from a shell, as possible reasons for the name.^[1] The Latin snail is a borrowing of Ancient Greek κοχλίας (kokhlías, “snail with a spiral shell”).^[1]

The Appendix Probi's correction of cocliarium to cocleare shows that the longer form was current in speech.^[7] It gave French cuillère, Old Occitan culhier and Catalan cullera, while the shorter Latin noun survives in Spanish cuchara, and a variant *cochleale in Old Milanese cugial.^[7][8][1] Devoto explains the ending by the regular Tuscan change of ⟨-ariu⟩ to ⟨-aio⟩, and Meyer-Lübke the ⟨u⟩ of the first syllable as in cucina.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Monza Glossary of the 10th century, with the form coglari, in the sense of a spoon for eating.^[10][3] DELI's first records are Bonvesin da la Riva's northern cugial, before 1315, and cucchiaio in A. Pucci, before 1388.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “spoonful”, already found in the Latin of Scribonius Largus, is recorded in Italian before 1444, in G. Morelli.^[2][5] From 1563 the word named spoon-shaped tools in various trades, later the bucket of an excavator and the surgeon's scraping spoon.^[2][4][11] The diminutive cucchiaino named the organ with which bees gather pollen (before 1764) before it meant a small spoon (1797) and a metal fishing lure (1951).^[2]

In football the cucchiaio is a soft chip struck from under the ball, and newspapers used it in 2006 for a penalty taken in this way.^[12][13] In the slang recorded by Treccani, a cucchiaio d’oro was a doctor who grew rich on illegal abortions.^[14] Central and southern Italian has cucchiaro.^[13][6]

Timeline

• 10th century – The Monza Glossary has coglari.^[10][3]
• 1270–1280 – Bonvesin da la Riva writes Milanese cugial.^[7]
• 1287 – Cucchiaia, a large spoon, is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1388 – A. Pucci uses cucchiaio.^[2][4]
• Before 1444 – G. Morelli uses it for a spoonful.^[2]
• 1563 – Florio records it for spoon-shaped tools.^[2]
• 1797 – Cucchiaino “small spoon” is recorded.^[2]
• 2006 – Newspapers use cucchiaio for the chipped penalty.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. spoon: a piece of cutlery with an oval concave bowl and a handle, for eating liquid or soft food: cucchiaio da tavola, tablespoon.^[4][13][6]
2. A spoonful: aggiungere due cucchiai di farina.^[4][13][11]
3. A larger spoon for serving or stirring food: cucchiaio di legno, wooden spoon.^[4][13]
4. (technology) The bucket of an excavator, and other spoon-shaped tools.^[4][6][13]
5. (surgery) A spoon-shaped instrument for scraping.^[14][11]
6. (football) A chip: a soft lob struck from under the ball, especially from a penalty.^[13][6][12]

Word family

• cucchiaino
• cucchiaia
• cucchiaiata
• cucchiaione
• scucchiaiare

Related words

• chiocciola
• coclea
• Latin cochlea
• French cuillère

Usage notes

Dolce al cucchiaio is a soft dessert eaten with a spoon.^[13][15] Essere da raccogliere col cucchiaio is said of someone worn out or badly hurt.^[6][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1182
6. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 368
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b c 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 g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli