ghiandaia

Forms

ghiandaia f (plural ghiandaie)^[1] Old Italian has the plural ghiandaie and the form giandae.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin glandāria, the name of a bird that feeds on acorns.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} The Late Latin word is the feminine of the classical adjective Latin glandārius (“acorn-bearing”), from glāns (“acorn”).^[3][4][5][1] Nocentini explains it as short for a phrase meaning “acorn bird”, with avis (“bird”) left out, and the dictionaries name the acorns the jay usually eats as the reason for the name.^[4][3][7] The GDLI gives the source as a Vulgar Latin *glandāria.^[8]

The same Latin word is the base of ghianda too.^[4][9] De Vaan traces it to Proto-Indo-European *gʷlh₂-n-d(h)-(i)- (“acorn”), and Wiktionary gives the root as *gʷelh₂-.^[10][1] Its cognates include Ancient Greek βάλανος (bálanos, “acorn”), Lithuanian gìlė (“acorn”) and Proto-Slavic *želǫdь (“acorn”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Florentine Novellino of the late 13th century, which lists jays together with magpies and crows among the animals whose signs change with the moon: E delle ghiandaie e delle gazze e delle cornacchie.^[3][2][8] The sense is the woodland bird of the crow family, Garrulus glandarius; in some early texts the name seems to mean the magpie.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio has a jay that flies off with loud cries, and Pulci and Caro also mention the bird.^[8] Olina explains that it is called after its habit of feeding on acorns, and gives its Latin names as pica glandaria or garrulus, from its constant chatter; the GDLI adds that it is easily tamed and learns to imitate voices and sounds.^[8]

The word belongs to Tuscany.^[5][3] In 1497 Colocci wrote that Dante had preferred the Marchigian word pica to the Florentine ghiandaia, and before 1543 Firenzuola speaks of birds “which you call ghiandaie”.^[3] The Italian linguistic atlas still shows pica in the south, ghiandaia in Tuscany and gazza in central and northern Italy.^[3] The modern dictionaries extend the name to other members of the crow family, and ghiandaia marina is the European roller, Coracias garrulus, a blue-green bird of a different family.^[11][6][12]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Novellino has the plural ghiandaie.^[3][2]
• 1497 – Colocci calls ghiandaia the Florentine word for pica.^[3]
• Before 1543 – Firenzuola uses ghiandaie for the birds others call putte.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), a bird of the crow family with an erectile crest, pinkish-brown plumage and wing feathers barred black and blue, which feeds on acorns, fruit and the eggs of other birds.^{[11][6][7][1]}
2. A common name for several corvids with a crest of erectile feathers.^[11][13]
3. (zoology) ghiandaia marina: the European roller (Coracias garrulus), a blue-green bird of the roller family.^[6][12][14]

Word family

• ghiandaiotto

Related words

• ghianda
• Latin glāns

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1798
6. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 735
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)