mandorla

Forms

mandorla f (plural mandorle, diminutive mandorlina or mandorlétta)^[1] Old and regional forms are Old Italian amandola and Old Italian mandola.^[2][3] Fra Giordano has Old Italian mandrola.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin amandula, a form recorded in the glosses and in Oribasius in the 6th century AD for classical Latin amygdala.^[6][7][8] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amygdálē, “almond”), which DELI calls a foreign word of uncertain origin.^[6][1] Nocentini thinks it was an eastern loan, since the tree and its fruit came from Persia.^[7] The Italian word lost its first ⟨a-⟩ by fusion with the article.^[3] The ⟨r⟩ was then inserted: mandola became mandrola and then the present form.^[6] Devoto explains the ⟨r⟩ as a way of keeping the word apart from diminutives in -ola.^[9] Devoto and GDLI see in the Late Latin form a cross of a form Late Latin amiddula with Latin mandō.^[9][10]

The LEI sees two layers of Late Latin forms: the older, Late Latin amyndala, is the more widespread: it is behind Neapolitan ammennola, Sicilian mennula, Albanian mendull, Occitan amenla, Catalan ametlla, Spanish almendra and Portuguese amêndoa.^[11][12][7] The younger form with ⟨a⟩ may have spread from the Exarchate of Ravenna; trade from the Veneto and the Po valley would explain French amande, Friulian mandule and German Mandel.^[11]

The Florentine forms of the tree's and the fruit's names, with ⟨r⟩, won out in the standard language, against the protest of Paolo Beni, who asked in 1612 why they should be preferred to the mandolo and amandola of the rest of Italy.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1288.^[4] DELI's is in Muscia da Siena, before 1288, who wished to send “mandorle novelle di gennaio” (“fresh January almonds”).^[4][6][10]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for the fruit and for its sweet or bitter seed, for the almond tree itself, and in phrases such as olio di mandorle and latte di mandorle, made from crushed almonds.^[4] In the early 16th century it was extended to the kernel of other stone fruits, such as the peach and apricot.^[6]

The shape of the almond gave the word to art and ornament: Fazio degli Uberti uses it for an almond-shaped motif before 1367, and since 1550 mandorla is the oval aureole round Christ or the Virgin in Christian art.^[6][13] English borrowed this sense in 1883 and French in 1930.^[13] DELI thinks the phrase occhi a mandorla may owe something to French en amande.^[6] In the 20th century DEI also records mandorla for a bribe to an official.^[14]

Timeline

• Before 1288 – Muscia da Siena writes of mandorle novelle.^[6]
• 1288 – A Florentine document has the TLIO's earliest record.^[4]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses mandorlo for the tree.^[6]
• Before 1367 – Fazio degli Uberti uses mandorla for an almond-shaped ornament.^[6]
• Early 16th century – It is extended to the kernel of other fruits.^[6]
• 1550 – The sense “almond-shaped aureole in art” is recorded.^[13]
• 1612 – Paolo Beni objects to the Florentine form mandorla.^[6]
• 1883 – English mandorla is first recorded.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. almond: the fruit of the almond tree, a drupe with a green husk and a woody shell; its edible seed, sweet or bitter: Ha comprato un sacchetto di mandorle tostate.^[8][2][15]
2. (by extension) The kernel of other fruits, such as the peach or apricot.^[8][15][16]
3. (art) An almond-shaped ornament; the mandorla, an almond-shaped aureole round a sacred figure: mandorla mistica.^[8][15][3]
4. (architecture) A moulding or frame made of two arcs meeting at a point above and below.^[8][2]
5. (zoology) Mandorla di mare, a small sea snail with a thin white shell (Philine aperta).^[15][17]

Word family

• mandorlo
• mandorlato
• mandorleto
• ammandorlato

Related words

• amigdala
• Latin amygdala
• French amande

Usage notes

A mandorla means “almond-shaped”, especially in occhi a mandorla, narrow and elongated eyes.^[2][15][16] The tree is mandorlo.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 624
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 269
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 630
11. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 987
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2342
15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli