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lolla

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word lolla

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1298 after 1298, Questioni filosofiche More words from the 13th century
Borrowed from
Romagnol lovla
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek λοβός

Forms

lolla f (plural lolle)[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain, and DELI calls it unknown.[2][3][4] Nocentini takes it as borrowed from Romagnol lovla, from Vulgar Latin *lobula, a diminutive of *loba (“husk, shell”), which comes from Ancient Greek λοβός (lobós, “pod, husk”).[5][1] DEI and the GDLI start from the Emilian form lovla (modern novla), from lova (“pod”).[6][7] REW's etymon, with a long vowel and the sense “husk, pod”, gave Piedmontese lova and Lombard löva “corncob”, but Meyer-Lübke left open how loppa and this word relate to it.[8]

Wiktionary instead takes it from a contracted *lop'la, a diminutive of loppa (“husk”), ultimately from Latin loba.[1] Devoto saw a crossing of the same word with loglio (“darnel”).[9] The Latin word is mentioned by Pliny and comes from the Greek word.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Tuscan Questioni filosofiche, after 1298, where grain is cleaned of its lolla.[6] DELI dates it to about 1340, in the Italian Palladio, which glosses it as lolla o pula, “chaff or husk”.[2]

Semantic evolution

A Sienese statute of 1314–1316 fines anyone who takes another's straw, hay or lolla, which was used as fodder, bedding and fuel.[6][2] Saint Catherine of Siena wrote of chaff that looked like grain and was not.[7]

The phrases avere le mani di lolla, of someone who lets things slip from their hands, and essere di lolla, to be weak or listless, are marked as obsolete by Tommaseo.[10][11] In modern agriculture lolla del riso is the rice husk left by hulling, used as fuel.[11]

Timeline

  • After 1298 – Lolla appears in the Tuscan Questioni filosofiche.[6]
  • 1314–1316 – A statute of Siena names lolla among stolen straw and hay.[6]
  • About 1340 – The Italian Palladio has lolla o pula.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (agriculture) chaff, husk: the bracts round the grains of cereals, separated in threshing and used as bedding for livestock or as packing material.[3][4][11]
  2. (figurative, archaic) Weakness, lack of strength: essere di lolla, to be feeble;[3][12][11] avere le mani di lolla, to let everything fall from one's hands.[3][12][11]

Word family

  • dilollare

Usage notes

Another lolla, a regional word recorded from 1957, is a wide loggia along the front of the farmhouses of the Campidano in Sardinia, borrowed from Sardinian lolla “loggia, porch”.[3][4][13] Its synonyms are loppa and pula.[14][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2265
  14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
Cite this entry

“Lolla.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/lolla. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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