graticola

Forms

graticola f (plural graticole)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian craticola, Old Italian craticula and Old Italian graticula.^[2] Segneri wrote craticola.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crāticula (“small gridiron; grating”), a diminutive of crātis (“wickerwork, hurdle”).^[5][6][7][8] The initial /k/ was voiced to /ɡ/, as in grata, which comes from the same Latin base.^[9][5] Wiktionary allows a Vulgar Latin form *graticula as the source.^[1] The sources do not agree on how the word entered Italian: the TLIO treats it as a derivative of grata, and Prati as a word that came in through literature.^[2][3]

The same Latin word gave Old French graille, from which came gratiglia, and French grille, from which came griglia, a doublet borrowed in the 18th century.^[10][6][1] Other outcomes are Old Occitan grazilha and Sardinian kadriya.^[10]

The origin of the Latin base is unclear.^[11] De Vaan notes that Germanic words for “door” or “hurdle” and an Old Prussian word for “hedge” look similar, but as no Indo-European root of the right form and meaning is known, the group may be of non-Indo-European origin.^[11] Nocentini compares the Latin word with a Greek word for “basket” and, more distantly, with Old High German hurt (“wickerwork”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Sienese document of 1277–1282.^[2][6] In the TLIO's senses the word first named a small grating of metal bars closing a window or door, a metal grid over a furnace, and the grill for roasting food, especially fish.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Before 1311 Giordano da Pisa used the word for the gridiron of martyrdom, on which a condemned man was burnt over a slow fire.^[5] St Lawrence on the gridiron gave the phrase la graticola di san Lorenzo, and Cavalca has him give thanks to Christ “stando sulla graticola” (lying on the gridiron).^[12][13] In the 14th century the grill for cooking is recorded in the Italian Bible and in Crescenzi, and the small grating over an opening in L. Frescobaldi.^[5][9] The TLIO also records the cells of a honeycomb.^[2]

In the art of the 16th century graticola named a frame strung with threads in regular squares, used to copy a drawing at a larger or smaller scale; the word is recorded in this sense before 1574, and French borrowed it as graticule in 1701, in Furetière.^[14][15] Today griglia is the more common word for the grill, and mettere qualcuno sulla graticola means to subject someone to harsh criticism.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 1277–1282 – The word appears in a Sienese document.^[2][6]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for the gridiron of martyrdom.^[5][7]
• 14th century – The cooking grill appears in the Italian Bible and in Crescenzi, and the small grating in L. Frescobaldi.^[5]
• Before 1574 – The word is used for the drawing grid of artists.^[14]
• 1701 – French graticule is recorded in Furetière.^[14][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grill or gridiron for cooking, a small metal frame with parallel or crossed bars on which meat, fish and other food are cooked over a live fire: Abbiamo cotto le salsicce sulla graticola.^[7][16][1]
2. A small grating or grille over an opening: la graticola della finestrella in cantina.^[7][17][18]
3. (history) An instrument of torture on which the condemned were burnt over a slow fire: la graticola di san Lorenzo.^[7][12][16]
4. (art) A frame of threads stretched in regular squares, laid over a picture or drawing to copy it at a different size.^[7][12][18]

Word family

• graticolare
• graticolato
• ingraticolare
• graticoletta
• graticolina

Related words

• grata
• griglia
• gratella
• gratiglia
• Latin crātis

Usage notes

Mettere qualcuno sulla graticola means to subject someone to relentless criticism.^[17] DEI lists the drawing grid as a separate word with its own derivatives graticolare and graticolato^[15], but DELI, GRADIT and the dictionaries of use treat it as a sense of the same word.^[7][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 526
4. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1863
16. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)