merlo

Forms

merlo m (plural merli, feminine merla)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin merŭlus, a late masculine variant of Latin merula (“blackbird”).^[2][3][4][1] The vowel after the stress was lost (syncope).^[5] DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈmɛrl-u/ and explains it as a change of gender from the feminine */ˈmɛrl-a/; it has no outcomes in Sardinian and Romanian and is therefore younger than the feminine.^[6] The masculine gave French merle and Spanish mirlo, the feminine Occitan merla, Catalan merla, Sardinian mèrula and Romanian mierlă.^[3] Meyer-Lübke adds Dalmatian miarla, Friulian mierli, Romansh merl and Portuguese melro.^[7]

The Latin noun is a popular word of the western Indo-European languages.^[2] It is compared with Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird”), Breton moualc'h and Old High German amsla (modern German Amsel), and with Old English ōsle.^[3][8][9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *mesVlā-; the British forms point to *mesVl- and the Germanic ones to *amsl-, a mismatch that led Schrijver to see a loanword from a non-Indo-European substrate language of Europe.^[8][1]

The sense “battlement” comes from the bird too: DELI, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli derive it from the same word.^[2][4][10] Medieval Latin merulus already had this sense in a diploma of Berengar I of 902–913 and was common in the 10th century.^[2][11] Meyer-Lübke kept it under a separate head and left the link with the bird open,^[7] and Wiktionary compares French and English merlon.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The bird is named in the 13th-century Proverbia super natura feminarum.^[2][3] The battlement sense appears in the same century in Giacomino da Verona.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Dante compares the souls to the blackbird that takes a short spell of fair weather for spring: come fa il merlo per poca bonaccia “as the blackbird does for a little calm weather” (Purgatorio 13).^[12] The feminine merla is recorded from the 15th century, the diminutive merlotto from the first half of the 14th.^[11][3] The figurative “dolt” is dated to the 17th century by DEI and to 1858, in Guadagnoli, by DELI; the Tommaseo–Bellini of 1869 notes that images taken from this bird are always mocking.^[11][2] By antiphrasis merlo also came to mean a sly man who plays the simpleton.^[4][13] Cercare il merlo is said jokingly of a woman looking for a husband.^[14][13]

Nocentini sees the battlement as a very old transfer that may refer to the bird's beak or tail;^[3][5][14] Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli to merlons set in a row like perched blackbirds.^[3][5][14] The derivatives followed: merlare “to crenellate” is recorded in 1280, merlato (Genoese merlao) in the 13th and early 14th century, merlatura between the 15th and 16th.^[2] The sense then moved to an edging of points and to ornamental needlework, merletto “lace” (1687).^[3][2] The names merlo guelfo (rectangular) and merlo ghibellino (swallow-tailed) are recorded in 1934;^[2] DELI notes that they have no real connection with the medieval factions.^[2]

Timeline

• 902–913 – Medieval Latin merulus “battlement” appears in a diploma of Berengar I.^[2]
• 1200s – The Proverbia super natura feminarum name the bird.^[2]
• 1200s – Giacomino da Verona uses merlo for a battlement.^[2]
• 1280 – The verb merlare is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1328 – Lapo Gianni uses merlato “crenellated”.^[2]
• 1687 – Merletto “lace” is recorded.^[2]
• 1858 – A. Guadagnoli uses merlo for a gullible person.^[2]
• 1934 – Merlo guelfo and merlo ghibellino appear in the Enciclopedia Italiana.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. blackbird (Turdus merula), a songbird of woods and gardens, the male glossy black with a yellow bill, the female brown.^[4][10][13]
2. With a qualifier, the name of other birds: merlo acquaiolo, the white-throated dipper;^[10][13][4] merlo indiano, the hill myna.^[10][13][4]
3. (figurative) A gullible, simple-minded person, a dupe: Solo un merlo crederebbe a una storia simile.^[4][10][5]
4. (figurative, by antiphrasis) A shrewd person who pretends to be naive.^[4][14][13]
5. (architecture) merlon: each of the raised sections of masonry set at intervals along the top of a fortified wall or tower, giving cover to the defenders or as ornament;^[4][10][15] merlo guelfo, a rectangular one, merlo ghibellino, a swallow-tailed one.^[4][10][15]
6. (uncommon) Lace, the same as merletto.^[4][10][14]

Word family

• merla
• merlotto
• merlino
• merlare
• merlato
• merlatura
• merletto
• merlone
• smerlo
• smerlare

Related words

• Latin merula
• French merle

Usage notes

The female is merla.^[10][12] Merlo is also the name of some fish of the wrasse family, especially Labrus merula, a sense the Latin word already had in Varro.^[13][11] A Tuscan merlo “walnut husk” is a variant of mallo.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 f g h i 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 k 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. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2431
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2432