midolla

Forms

midolla f (plural midolle)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin medulla (“marrow; pith; innermost part”), a Latin word that DELI says became popular early.^[2][3][4][1] The same word is Old French meolle (modern French moelle), Occitan mezola, Spanish meollo, Portuguese miola “breadcrumb”, Sardinian meuḍḍa and Romanian măduvă.^[3][5]

Central Italian dialects, Tuscan among them, have mirolla and merolla, which Nocentini and Meyer-Lübke take from a form with /r/, Vulgar Latin *merulla.^[3][5][6] Nocentini sees in it the original form, matching Old Irish smiur (“marrow”) and Old High German smero (“fat”), with the Latin /d/ due to a popular association with medius (“middle”).^[3] De Vaan also prefers the link with Proto-Indo-European *smer-u- (“marrow”), with Proto-Italic *(s)meru-lo-, but notes that the change of /r/ to /d/ would be the reverse of the usual one, perhaps a hypercorrection.^[7][1] DELI and GRADIT call the origin uncertain, and Devoto and Sabatini mention only a possible tie with that word.^[2][4][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is figurative: Dante, in 1304–08, calls words vani, cioè sanza midolla di veritade (“empty, that is, without the marrow of truth”).^[2][10][11] The sense “crumb of bread” follows in 1310, in a Florentine text that tells the nurse to make a pap of midola di pane and honey.^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the bread sense is common: the Tavola Ritonda has midolla di pane, and Crescenzi's vernacular treatise explains that a large loaf has much soft crumb.^[2][12][13] The word was also used for the pulp of citrus fruit, and for bone marrow and the pith of plants, as in Petrarch's non ò medolla in osso.^[13][4][14] DELI dates the sense “marrow” to before 1342, in Cavalca.^[2]

In the plural the word meant a person's innermost being, as in Ariosto's n'arse fin ne le medolle (“burned for it to the marrow”), and Redi still wrote la spinal midolla.^[4][14] The masculine midollo took over the anatomical and botanical senses, and midolla kept the bread.^[2][10] In 19th-century Florence the inside of an orange or lemon was called pasto instead.^[13]

Timeline

• 1304–1308 – Dante uses midolla for the substance of an argument.^[2]
• 1310 – Midola di pane is recorded in a Florentine text.^[2]
• 14th century – The Tavola Ritonda has midolla di pane.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses the word for marrow.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The soft inner part of bread, inside the crust: the crumb; mollica.^[4][10][14]
2. (uncommon) The pulp of a fruit.^[4][10][11]
3. (archaic) Marrow of the bones, or the pith of plants.^[10][9][14]
4. (figurative, literary, usually plural) The innermost part of a person, the seat of feelings.^[4]
5. (figurative, literary) The essence or core of an idea or a text.^[4][10][11]

Word family

• midollo
• midolloso

Related words

• midollare
• mollica
• Latin medulla
• French moelle

Usage notes

GRADIT marks the word as rare, and Zingarelli as literary or regional: the usual word for the crumb is mollica.^[4][15] Older and regional forms are medolla and medulla.^[16][10] The plural le midolla was used as a collective, mostly figuratively.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 662
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 281
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli