gola

Forms

gola f (plural gole)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gula (“throat, gullet; gluttony”), a word that already had the figurative sense “gluttony” in Latin, as early as Sallust.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The same word is French gueule (“mouth, face”), Occitan gola, Catalan gola, Spanish gola, Portuguese gola, Sardinian bula, Friulian gole, Dalmatian gaula and Romanian gură (“mouth”).^[3][6] Nocentini notes that the extension to “mouth” must already have been alive in spoken Latin, and that French went further to “face”.^[3]

The Latin word has traditionally been compared with Sanskrit गल (gala, “throat”), Persian گلو (galu) and Old High German kela, the ancestor of German Kehle; it was derived from Proto-Indo-European *gʷel- (“throat”).^[3][1][7] De Vaan rejects this on phonetic grounds, since such a root would not give the Latin form, and thinks the root may be imitative, perhaps arising separately in each branch.^[8][1] Devoto too saw the imitation of the sound of swallowing in it.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEI dates the word to Uguccione da Lodi in the 13th century.^[5] DELI's first dated record is Brunetto Latini (before 1294), both for the front of the neck and for the sin of gluttony, peccato di gola.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Dante (1300–1313) uses it for greed for food and for the depth of a ditch, and Fazio degli Uberti (before 1367) for craving in general and for a narrow passage.^[2] The anatomical sense, the passage behind the mouth, is first dated in the 14th-century Libro di Sydrac.^[2] Leonardo da Vinci uses it for a narrow pass between mountains (before 1519), and Filarete (about 1465) for the S-shaped moulding of architecture, which English took over as gola (1728).^[2][11]

Later senses include the flue of a chimney, the neck of a vessel and the groove of a pulley (1846).^[4][2] The gola profonda, a press informant, is a calque of the English Deep Throat, quoted from Arbasino in 1984.^[10]

Timeline

• 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the word.^[5]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for the neck and for gluttony.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for greed and for a deep chasm.^[2]
• 14th century – The Libro di Sydrac uses it for the throat.^[2]
• About 1465 – Filarete uses it for an architectural moulding.^[2][11]
• Before 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci uses it for a mountain pass.^[2]
• 1728 – English gola is recorded in architecture.^[11]
• 1846 – Carena uses it for a groove.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The throat, the passage behind the mouth through which food and air pass: Ho mal di gola da tre giorni.^[4][12][13]
2. The front of the neck: Si mise una sciarpa di lana intorno alla gola.^[4][12]
3. gluttony, greed for food and drink; one of the seven deadly sins: Ho mangiato il dolce solo per gola.^[4][12][1]
4. A narrow opening or channel: the flue of a chimney, the neck of a bottle, the shaft of a well.^[4][12]
5. A gorge, a narrow valley with steep sides: le gole del fiume.^[4][12][1]
6. (architecture) An S-shaped moulding, an ogee.^[12][2]
7. (mechanics) The groove of a pulley or wheel.^[4][2]

Word family

• goletta
• goloso
• golosità
• ingolosire
• ingollare
• sgolarsi
• soggolo
• sottogola

Related words

• ingolato
• Latin gula
• French gueule

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include far gola “to tempt”, avere l'acqua alla gola “to be in dire straits”, col cuore in gola “with one's heart in one's mouth” and avere il coltello alla gola “to have a knife at one's throat”.^[4][1] GRADIT records a separate technical gola (1941), the name of a people of Liberia and Sierra Leone and of their language.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1839
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 206
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier