giogaia

giogaia¹ mountain chain

Etymology tree of giogaia¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin iugum

French joug

Italian giogo

Italian giogaia

Romanian jug

Spanish yugo

From the same root · giogaia¹

Latin biiugus ← iugum

Latin iugālis ← iugum

Latin iugō ← iugum

Latin iugulum ← iugum

Latin quadrīga ← iugum

Latin subiugius ← iugum

Latin subiugō ← iugum

Romanian înjuga ← iugum

Romanian jugar ← iugum

Pronunciation

• /d͡ʒoˈɡa.ja/^[1]

Forms

giogaia f (plural giogaie)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the mountain chain is from Italian giogo + -aia, a collective noun built on the noun in its sense “long rounded summit of a mountain”.^[2][3][4][5] DELI notes that Latin iugum already meant a mountain ridge as well as a yoke, and that this sense, the most frequent one in Dante, lives on collectively in this word.^[6]

Battisti and Alessio see it instead as a semi-learned word, from Latin iugārius (“belonging to the yoke”).^[7] Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli also trace it to the feminine of that adjective, used as a noun.^[8][9] The Latin adjective is formed from the noun with the suffix -ārius.^[10]

GRADIT and Nocentini number the mountain chain 1 and the dewlap 2.^[3][2] DELI numbers them the other way round, listing the mountain chain as homograph 2 under giogo.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giambullari, before 1555, in the sense “a series of mountain ridges, a mountain chain”.^[6][3] The passage GDLI quotes says that the Alps are a single giogaia of mountains, though broken up by rivers, lakes and countless valleys.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its geographical sense, a row of ridges or a whole mountain range, and later writers such as Botta, Arici and Settembrini use it in landscape descriptions.^[11][5] Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli add a narrower extended sense, a pass or a saddle between peaks.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Before 1555 – Giambullari calls the Alps a single giogaia of mountains.^[6][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geography) A series of mountain ridges; a mountain chain or range: la giogaia alpina.^[3][4][5]
2. (by extension) A pass or saddle between mountains.^[8][9]

giogaia² dewlap

Pronunciation

• /d͡ʒoˈɡa.ja/^[1]

Forms

giogaia f (plural giogaie)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the dewlap is inherited from Vulgar Latin *iugulāria, short for a phrase meaning “skin of the throat” (with pellis (“skin”) understood), from Latin iugulum (“throat, neck”).^{[6][2][3][12]} Battisti and Alessio derive it through an earlier *giogghiaia, shortened by dissimilation and drawn towards giogo by folk etymology; they find a derivation from iugārius (“belonging to the yoke”) hard to accept for the meaning.^[7][13] Körting likewise starts from a form *gioghiaja.^[14]

Wiktionary and the Treccani Vocabolario give the starting point as *iugāria, perhaps an alteration of that form under the influence of iugum (“yoke”).^[1][5] The Latin word for the throat is itself formed from the word for the yoke with the diminutive suffix -ulum.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word before 1320.^[3] DELI's first record is the Tuscan translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi's treatise on agriculture, around 1350, which advises buyers of oxen to look for a broad giogaia hanging down to the knees.^[6][11] The TLIO's first text is Ranieri Sardo's Pisan chronicle (1354–1399).^[13]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed the same: the fold of loose skin that hangs from the throat to the chest of cattle and other ruminants.^[3][4] Anguillara and Marino use it in poetry for the dewlap of a bull.^[11] The Treccani Vocabolario and Zingarelli note that it is sometimes extended to the front of the neck of other animals, such as dogs and rabbits.^[5][9] In jocular or literary use it has also meant a double chin.^[9][15]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – first record of giogaia “dewlap”, as GRADIT dates it.^[3]
• About 1350 – the Tuscan Crescenzi describes the giogaia of a good ox.^[6][11]
• 1354–1399 – Ranieri Sardo uses the word in Pisa.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) dewlap: the fold of loose skin hanging from the throat to the chest of cattle and other ruminants.^[3][4][8]
2. (zoology, by extension) A fold of skin on the neck of other animals.^[9][5]
3. (jocular, literary) A double chin.^[15][9]