miglio

miglio¹ mile

Etymology tree of miglio¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin mille

French mille

Italian miglio

Italian mille

From the same root · miglio¹

English millennium ← mille

Latin miliens ← mille

French millier ← mille

Italian milione ← mille

Pronunciation

• /ˈmiʎ.ʎo/^[1]

Forms

miglio m (plural miglia f)^[1] The plural is feminine, le miglia; the literary plural milia is now obsolete.^[2][3]

Etymology

The mile is a singular formed from the plural miglia, which continues inherited from Latin mīlia (“thousands”), the plural of the numeral for “thousand”, in the phrase mīlia passuum (“a thousand paces”).^[4][5][6][1] The new singular follows the usual Italian pattern of masculine nouns with a feminine plural.^[7] It is a doublet of mille.^[1]

The same Latin plural gave Occitan milha, Catalan milla (from which Spanish milla was borrowed), Portuguese milha and Logudorese miza.^[5][8][9] Taken into Germanic from the Latin of the Empire, it became Old High German mīla, German Meile and English mile.^[5][10]

The Latin numeral is usually traced to Proto-Indo-European *sm-ih₂-ǵʰes-l-ih₂ (“one thousand”), with a first part meaning “one”; the comparison rests on Sanskrit सहस्र (sahásra) and Ancient Greek χίλιοι (khílioi).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the chronicle of Ricordano Malispini, in the 13th century, which explains that the mile is a thousand short paces of three braccia each.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Before the metric system the length of the mile varied from place to place: Tommaseo–Bellini gives just under 1,500 metres for the Tuscan mile, 1,653 for the Roman, 1,927 for the Neapolitan and 2,466 for the Piedmontese one, and notes that the kilometre was already replacing it.^[12][13] Modern Italian keeps the word for the English statute mile and the nautical mile.^[13][14][3]

In the plural the word became a figure of speech for a great distance, real or abstract, as in lontano un miglio and mille miglia lontano.^[6][13][2] It also named a milestone, and a point on a road marked by one.^[6][3] The Mille Miglia was a road race over about 1,600 km held from 1927 to 1957.^[15]

Timeline

• 13th century – Ricordano Malispini defines the mile as a thousand paces.^[4]
• 1266 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[3]
• 1927–1957 – The Mille Miglia road race is held.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mile, an old unit of distance whose length varied with time and place; the Roman mile was a thousand paces, about 1,480 metres.^[6][13][14]
2. A modern unit of the same name: miglio terrestre or inglese (1,609 metres), and miglio marino or nautico (1,852 metres).^[13][3][15]
3. (hyperbolic, chiefly plural) A great distance, also in a figurative sense: si sente lontano un miglio, it is obvious from far away.^[6][2][3]
4. (uncommon) A milestone.^[6][13][3]

miglio² millet

Etymology tree of miglio²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin milium

Italian miglio

Pronunciation

• /ˈmiʎ.ʎo/^[1]

Forms

miglio m (plural migli)^[1]

Etymology

Millet is inherited from Latin milium.^[4][5][6][1] The word is pan-Romance: Old French mil (later replaced by its diminutive French millet), Occitan melh, Catalan mill, Spanish mijo, Portuguese milho, Sardinian mizu, Romanian mei and Dalmatian mail.^[5][8][10] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance form with short /ɪ/ for most of the Romance languages and one with /i/ for Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese;^[16] Meyer-Lübke explained that /i/ by the influence of Latin mīlle (“thousand”), because of the great number of grains.^[8]

The Latin word is compared with Ancient Greek μελίνη (melínē, “millet”) and Lithuanian málnos (“a kind of millet”), each with a different root vowel.^[5][11] De Vaan suggests either three separate derivatives of Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind”), “the grain to be ground”, or three forms of one old noun *mélh₂-i.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Veronese meio is documented from about 1205, before any Tuscan record.^[4] Nocentini dates the Italian word to 1261–1272;^[5][4] DELI finds it in the Fiore (late 13th or early 14th century) and in Fazio degli Uberti, before 1367.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The grain was once food for people as well as animals;^[17][12] Tommaseo–Bellini says country people made a heavy but nourishing bread from it.^[17][12] Followed by an adjective (miglio indiano, miglio africano) the name was given to other grasses with similar seeds.^[10][12] Today it is above all birdseed.^[13][14]

The derivative migliaccio comes from Late Latin miliacium, originally a cake of millet flour; it then named the chestnut cake (1614–1617, Tassoni) and the black pudding baked in a pan (1310–1312, Dino Compagni), which looks similar.^[4][5]

Timeline

• c. 1205 – Veronese meio is recorded.^[4]
• 1261–1272 – Nocentini's date for the Italian word.^[5]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses migliaccio for a black pudding.^[4]
• Before 1367 – Fazio degli Uberti uses miglio “millet”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) millet (Panicum miliaceum), an annual grass with hairy leaves and drooping panicles.^[6][13][14]
2. Its small round grains, used mainly as birdseed and in animal feed.^[6][13][2]
3. A name given to various other grasses, as in miglio africano (pearl millet).^[6][13]

Word family

• migliaccio
• migliarino
• migliarola