gallina

Forms

gallina f (plural galline, masculine gallo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gallīna (“hen”), originally an adjective “of the cock”, formed from gallus (“cock, rooster”) with the suffix -īna.^[2][3][4][1]

The word is found throughout Romance: Old French geline, Occitan galina, Catalan gallina, Spanish gallina, Portuguese galinha, Romanian găină, Friulian galine, Romansh gilina and Dalmatian galaina.^[3][5][6] In French it survives only in Picard and Lorraine dialects, the standard word being French poule.^[5][3]

The origin of the Latin word for the cock is uncertain.^[7] De Vaan finds no sign that the bird was named after the Gauls, and prefers the link with a root Proto-Indo-European *glH- (“to call”), which makes the cock “the caller”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Pistoian document of about 1200, with the sense of the farmyard bird, the female of the domestic fowl, kept for its meat and eggs.^[8] DELI's first record is the Decime mugellane, a Tuscan tithe register of 1230–1260.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word in names of other birds: gallina acquatica for the moorhen and gallina rustica for the guinea fowl;^[8] gallina di bosco even named the tortoise.^[8] Star names followed: in 1273 Bonaventure explained that the common people called the Pleiades “the hen with her chicks” (gallinam cum pullis), and Restoro d'Arezzo has gallinelle for the Pleiades in 1282.^[2]

The joke that bad handwriting looks like the work of a hen's feet is old: Plautus has nam has quidem gallina scripsit (“for a hen wrote these”).^[2] Italian keeps it in zampe di gallina, a scrawl, and also the crow's feet beside the eyes.^[10][11] Cervello di gallina is said of a person of little sense,^[2][10] and gallina alone came to mean a silly woman.^[9][11] Popular speech in the 18th century gave the name to the coins of Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, from the Savoy eagle on their reverse.^[12][9]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Gallina appears in a Pistoian document.^[8]
• 1230–1260 – The word is used in the Decime mugellane.^[2][9]
• 1273 – Bonaventure records the popular name “the hen with her chicks” for the Pleiades.^[2]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo calls the Pleiades gallinelle.^[2]
• c. 1344 – Boccaccio uses the diminutive gallinella.^[2]
• 18th century – A coin of Victor Amadeus III is popularly called gallina.^[9][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. hen: the adult female of the domestic fowl, smaller than the cock and less brightly coloured, kept for eggs and meat: Ogni mattina andava a prendere le uova delle galline.^{[9][13][14][10]}
2. (figurative, derogatory) A silly, empty-headed woman.^{[9][13][11][15]}
3. A name for various other birds, in phrases such as gallina faraona (guinea fowl), gallina prataiola (little bustard) and, in central Italy, gallina della Madonna (swallow).^[10][11][14]
4. (historical) A popular name for a coin of Victor Amadeus III, king of Sardinia.^[9][12]

Word family

• gallinella
• gallinaccio
• gallinaceo
• gallinaio
• gallinaccia

Related words

• gallo
• pollastra
• chioccia
• Latin gallus

Usage notes

Common sayings include gallina vecchia fa buon brodo (old things and people still have their worth), gallina che canta ha fatto l'uovo (whoever protests too much is the guilty one), la gallina dalle uova d'oro (a source of easy profit) and andare a letto con le galline (to go to bed very early).^{[10][13][11][15]} The young hen is pollastra and the brooding one chioccia.^[14][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
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, p. 6, 558
13. ^ a b c 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 c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli