mogio

Forms

mogio (feminine mogia, masculine plural mogi, feminine plural mogie or moge)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably a northern word, borrowed from Venetian mogio (“wet, soaked”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} DELI gives this view, Alessio's of 1953, with the Venetian word continuing Latin mollius, the neuter comparative of mollis (“soft, limp”).^[2][7][6] Northern authors often wrote it in the Tuscanized form moglio.^[2] GRADIT, Treccani and Devoto–Oli name the comparative mollior instead, and Devoto–Oli explains the word as a Venetian outcome of the Latin form, not a Tuscan one.^[4][5][8] Nocentini sees the Venetian word as molle moved to another inflection class, probably through an enlarged Vulgar Latin *molleus.^[3] Wiktionary instead connects it with Vulgar Latin *molliāre (“to soak”).^[1] DEI compares a moglio (“soaking”), recorded at Bologna in 1253.^[9]

The etymology is not settled.^[10][11] Prati was not convinced by Alessio's proposal, and Regula derived the word from Vulgar Latin *modius (“moderate, measured”).^[2] Devoto saw a crossing with brogio “foolish”.^[12] Körting, after Schuchardt, put it in a family of dialect adjectives meaning “limp, sluggish” from Latin musteus (“like must”).^[13]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *moldus and *ml̥dus (“soft, weak”); the u-stem adjective was remade as an i-stem in Latin.^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Pucci's Centiloquio, before 1388, which speaks of someone “old and of sluggish spirit”.^[2][11][15] The sense there is “lacking energy and liveliness, tired”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

DEI also has the word in Buti in the 14th century, with the senses “quiet, dejected, downcast”, and in Pisan “submissive, willing”.^[9] In Varchi's history people dared to rebuke a man who seemed too cold for being mogio, and Redi wrote of flies born moge e sbalordite, sluggish and dazed.^[15] Tommaseo defined it as “of sleepy spirits, drowsy by nature”, and quoted the Tuscan proverb cane mogio e cavallo desto, a dog quiet and a horse lively.^[15]

Today it describes someone who is downcast and shows it, without spirit or reaction, often doubled for emphasis: mogio mogio.^{[4][10][7][8]} It is also said of an animal that is a little unwell.^[5]

Timeline

• 1253 – Old Bolognese a moglio “soaking” is recorded.^[9]
• Before 1388 – Pucci uses mogio in the Centiloquio.^[2][11]
• 1953 – Alessio derives the word from Latin mollius.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dejected, downcast, crestfallen: without spirit or energy, and showing it, often doubled for emphasis: dopo la sconfitta tornarono a casa mogi mogi.^{[4][10][7][8][1]}
2. Of an animal: listless, a little unwell.^[5]

Related words

• molle
• Latin mollis

Usage notes

The feminine plural is moge or mogie.^[8][7][5] GDLI has a separate dialect noun mogio, a Venetian name for millet (miglio), with ⟨gi⟩ for Latin ⟨lj⟩ as in Old Paduan maegio.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2486
10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 285
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
15. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10, 7