gelata

Forms

gelata f (plural gelate)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian gelare + -ata, the noun of the verb for “to freeze”; it can also be seen as the feminine past participle of the verb used as a noun.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The same formation is already recorded as Medieval Latin gelata in the Reichenau Glossary of the 8th century, and Wiktionary treats the Italian word as inherited from it.^[6][1]

The same noun is French gelée (from the 11th century), Occitan gelada, Catalan gelada, Spanish helada and Portuguese geada, the last three also meaning “hoar-frost”.^[7][6] The verb continues Latin gelō (“to freeze”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a poem by the Tuscan Mazzeo di Ricco, of the second half of the 13th century, who uses the old form gialata in a figure of speech: la mia favilla in gran foco è tornata / e la picciula neve in gran gialata (“my spark has turned into a great fire, and the little snow into a great frost”).^[4][6][8] The sense is a fall in temperature that turns water to ice.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The vernacular Plutarch of the same period uses the word plainly: fecesi gelata (“a frost set in”).^[6][8] Dante gives it the concrete sense of frozen water or a sheet of ice, in the line Noi passammo oltre, là 've la gelata / ruvidamente un'altra gente fascia (“We went on, to where the ice roughly binds another people”).^[8][9] Old Italian also used it for hoar-frost.^[4]

Tommaseo's dictionary records a transferred sense, a preparation of sugar set like a jelly.^[9] Later writers use the word above all for frosts that harm crops and paving, and meteorology speaks of gelate notturne, night frosts that come when the air is only a little above 0 °C.^[6][10] A recent figurative use is a freeze or deadlock in relations.^[2]

Timeline

• 8th century – Medieval Latin gelata appears in the Reichenau Glossary.^[6]
• 11th century – French gelée is first recorded.^[6]
• Second half of the 13th century – Mazzeo di Ricco uses gialata.^[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. frost: a spell of intense cold with temperatures at or below freezing, so that ice forms: Una gelata improvvisa ha rovinato i peschi in fiore.^{[2][11][3][12][5]}
2. (literary) A frozen surface or an area covered with ice.^{[2][11][3][5]}
3. A thin layer of ice or hoar-frost on the ground.^[13][4]
4. (figurative) A freeze or deadlock, as in relations between states.^[2]

Related words

• gelare
• gelo
• gelato
• French gelée

Usage notes

Gelata is also the feminine singular of gelato, the past participle of gelare (acqua gelata, “frozen water”).^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 627
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli