ghiaioso

Forms

ghiaioso (feminine ghiaiosa, masculine plural ghiaiosi, feminine plural ghiaiose)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian ghiaia + -oso, “full of gravel”.^[2][3][4][5] Zingarelli notes that it matches Latin glāreōsus (“gravelly”), formed from glārea (“gravel”).^[6][7] GRADIT and Wiktionary derive it from the Latin adjective itself.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date it before 1320.^[9][8][2] The TLIO's first record is the Tuscan translation of Palladius from the first half of the 14th century, and DELI cites the translation of Crescenzi, about 1350, where a tree “wants sandy, rich or gravelly soil”.^[5][10][11]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed the same: land, a riverbed or a road that has or is covered with gravel.^[5][3] Beside it the old and northern form ghiaroso was used, from ghiara.^[12][2] Filarete wrote of a plain that was all ghiarosa, and later writers used the form for gravelly soils and riverbeds.^[11]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – first record.^[9][8]
• About 1350 – the Tuscan translation of Crescenzi uses ghiaiosa of soil.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. gravelly, full of or covered with gravel (ghiaia): Il sentiero ghiaioso scendeva verso il torrente.^[8][2][3][6]

Related words

• ghiaia
• ghiara
• Latin glāreōsus

Usage notes

The variant ghiaroso is archaic or northern.^[12][2]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 735
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)