insalata

Forms

insalata f (plural insalate)^[1] Other old forms are Old Italian 'nsalata and Old Italian ensalata.^[2] The shorter Old Italian salata is recorded in 1344.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Italian insalato, the feminine of the past participle of the old verb insalare (“to salt”), used as a noun: the dish was named for being dressed with salt.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} That verb is formed from Italian in- + sale.^[3][8][1]

According to DEI, the variant salata is the form that spread to the other languages: French salade (14th century), Spanish ensalada, Portuguese salada, the German Salat (14th century) and the English word salad, and to the South Slavic languages, Modern Greek and Turkish.^[9] The Latin name for such a dish had been Latin acetarium (“food dressed with vinegar”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the poems of Cenne de la Chitarra of Arezzo (between the end of the 13th century and 1336), for a dish of mixed vegetables dressed with oil, salt and vinegar.^[2] DELI dates this sense from Domenico Cavalca (before 1342).^[3] The verb was still alive in Dante's Purgatorio (1313–19): dove l’acqua di Tevere s’insala (“where the water of the Tiber turns salt”), a usage Colocci criticised as a regionalism.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used insalata for the salting of food.^[2] The adjective insalato could mean both “salted” and “unsalted”, and Pietro Aretino used it both ways.^[3] Aretino also gave the noun its figurative sense of a jumble or mixture (1545).^[3] In the dialects the word names every kind of lettuce, chicory and endive.^[9]

Insalata russa, a cold dish of diced vegetables in mayonnaise, translates French salade russe (1877) and is recorded in Panzini's dictionary in 1908; purists rejected it for that reason.^[3][7] The bowl for serving it, the insalatiera, is recorded in 1843.^[3] Figuratively, mangiarsi qualcuno in insalata is to beat or outdo someone with ease.^[10]

Timeline

• Before 1336 – Cenne de la Chitarra has the first record of insalata.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it.^[3]
• 1344 – The form salata appears in the Libro della Mensa.^[3]
• 1545 – Pietro Aretino uses it figuratively for a jumble.^[3]
• 1843 – Insalatiera is recorded.^[3]
• 1908 – Insalata russa appears in Panzini's dictionary, after French salade russe (1877).^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of various plants, such as lettuce, chicory and endive, whose leaves are eaten raw: Nell’orto ho piantato due file d’insalata.^[4][11][1]
2. A salad: a dish of such leaves or other vegetables, usually raw, dressed with oil, salt and vinegar or lemon: insalata mista, insalata verde.^[4][5][12]
3. Any cold dish of chopped ingredients dressed with oil, vinegar or a sauce: insalata di riso, insalata di mare, insalata russa.^[4][11][5]
4. (figurative) A jumble, a confused mixture of unlike things.^[5][1][3]

Word family

• insalatiera
• insalataio
• insalatina

Related words

• sale
• salare
• French salade
• Spanish ensalada

Usage notes

The figurative phrase mangiarsi qualcuno in insalata means to beat someone easily.^[10][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2045
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli