ghiro

Forms

ghiro m (plural ghiri)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian glire, Old Italian gliru, Old Italian ghirro and Old Italian giro.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin glīrus, recorded in the Appendix Probi, for classical Latin glīs (“dormouse”), with a change of declension.^[4][5][6][1]

The same form gave Spanish lirón and Occitan glire.^[5][7] French loir and Portuguese leirão go back instead to a variant with a short vowel, *glĭrem, which DEI and REW also see in Neapolitan alere and other southern forms.^[5][8][7][9]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[4][6] Nocentini's only sure comparison is Ancient Greek γαλέη (galéē, “weasel”), an animal that often shares its name; both would be kinship names given to propitiate the animals, like Latin glōs (“sister-in-law”).^[5] De Vaan reports the reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *ǵlh₂-i- (“husband's sister, aunt”), with “aunt” used for the weasel as in many Romance dialects, but finds the semantic gap between dormouse and weasel a difficulty.^[10] Devoto saw no clear Indo-European connections.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Salimbene writes Medieval Latin ghirus in 1281–1288.^[4] The first Italian record is in the Mantuan translation of Belcalzer (1299–1309), for the small rodent known for its long winter sleep.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The Italian translation of Crescenzi (c. 1350) says that beechnuts fatten the dormice: ingrassa i ghiri.^[4][3] Old Italian also used the word for the animal's fur.^[2]

Isidore already explained glīres by gliscere, “to grow fat”, because sleep makes them fat, a popular etymology the GDLI reports.^[3] Pulci advises doing come il giro quando ha sonno, creeping into a hole and keeping quiet.^[3] From this comes dormire come un ghiro, to sleep deeply and long, and ghiro for a person who sleeps a great deal.^[6][12][13]

Timeline

• 1281–1288 – Salimbene uses Medieval Latin ghirus.^[4]
• 1299–1309 – Ghiro appears in Belcalzer's Mantuan translation.^[2][5]
• Before 1320 – GRADIT and Zingarelli date the word to before 1320.^[6][12]
• c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi mentions the dormouse.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The edible dormouse (Glis glis), a small nocturnal tree-living rodent with thick grey fur and a long bushy tail that hibernates in winter.^[6][14][13]
2. (zoology) Any rodent of the genus Glis.^[6]
3. (figurative) A person who sleeps a great deal, a sleepyhead: Sono le undici e quel ghiro dorme ancora.^[6][1]

Word family

• ghiraia

Related words

• Latin glis
• French loir

Usage notes

The usual comparison is dormire come un ghiro, “to sleep like a dormouse”, that is soundly and for a long time.^{[6][14][12][15]}

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 747
4. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1800
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana