giglio

Forms

giglio m (plural gigli)^[1] Old Italian forms include gillu, Old Italian gilio, Old Italian gillio and northern Old Italian zilio.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin līlium (“lily”), with the first ⟨l⟩ dissimilated to /dʒ/.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The dissimilated form appears as Medieval Latin gilium, already in an antidotary of the 9th or 10th century.^[4][5] Devoto and Wiktionary give the Vulgar Latin form as *jilju.^[9][1] Wiktionary compares loglio “darnel”, and the Sicilian form is gigghiu.^[1][10]

The inherited word is also French lis, Occitan lis (both from the plural) and Sardinian lizu, while Spanish lirio, Portuguese lirio and Catalan lliri are learned.^[5][11][12] DEI adds that the Latin word passed into the Germanic languages, as German Lilie and English lily, and into Berber.^[12]

The Latin word, like Ancient Greek λείριον (leírion, “lily”), is probably a borrowing from a language of the eastern Mediterranean.^{[13][5][14][4]} De Vaan and Nocentini compare Coptic words for “lily”, and Nocentini also Hittite and Egyptian words for “flower”, which do not lead to a common Indo-European form.^[13][5] Wiktionary takes the Latin directly from the Greek.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form gillu in the Ritmo di sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the second half of the 12th century, used figuratively of a person who stands out for purity.^[2][4][6] DELI dates the plant to Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the lily was the flower of purity: the word was used of Christ, the Virgin and the saints, and of any innocent or graceful person.^[2] The gigli del campo (lilies of the field) came from the Gospel of Matthew.^[2] Old Italian also used giglio for other plants: giglio celeste was the iris and giglio sanguigno the hyacinth.^[2]

In heraldry the word is recorded from Giamboni (before 1292).^[4] It named the emblem of the house of Anjou and of Florence, and the gold florin with the lily was called a gigliato.^[2][8] Florence is still la città del giglio.^[15][16]

Modern names of plants and animals include giglio delle convalli (lily of the valley, from the Song of Songs), giglio d'acqua (white water lily) and giglio di mare, a crinoid.^[7][17][15] Parini wrote of the lilies of a woman's fair skin.^[17][7]

Timeline

• 9th–10th century – Medieval Latin gilium appears in an Antidotarium.^[4]
• Second half of the 12th century – The Ritmo di sant'Alessio has gillu.^[2][4]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the word for the plant.^[4]
• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses it in heraldry.^[4]
• 13th century – Gilgliato “bearing the lily emblem” is recorded.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Barberino uses the form giglio.^[4]
• Before 1730 – Vallisneri uses gigliaceo, adapted from Latin.^[4]
• 1956 – Gigliuccio, a kind of drawn-thread embroidery, is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The lily (Lilium candidum and other species of Lilium), a bulbous plant with large, fragrant, usually white flowers; also its flower.^{[6][17][18][19]}
2. In the names of other plants: giglio delle convalli, lily of the valley;^[17][15][19] giglio d'acqua, the white water lily;^[17][15][19] giglio fiorentino, the Florentine iris.^[17][15][19]
3. (figurative) A symbol of purity and innocence; a pure person: ha un'anima candida come un giglio.^{[6][17][18][19]}
4. (heraldry) The fleur-de-lis: il giglio di Firenze, il giglio di Francia.^{[6][17][15][1]}
5. (zoology) In giglio di mare, a crinoid.^[17][15][19]

Word family

• gigliato
• gigliaceo
• gigliuccio
• giglieto
• aggigliato
• ingigliare

Related words

• liliale
• liliacea
• Latin lilium
• French lis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 502
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1807
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
18. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
19. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana