moglie

Forms

moglie f (plural mogli, relational adjective (literary) mogliesco, diminutive-endearing mogliettina)^[1] The oldest form is Old Italian molge.^[2][3] Old and dialect forms from the Latin accusative include Old Italian mogliera and Old Italian mogliere.^[4][5][1] Old Italian also had moglia.^[6][7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mulier (“woman”), continuing the nominative, as do a few other names of persons such as uomo, ladro and sarto.^[2][8][3][1] The other Romance languages, and the Italian dialects of the south, continue the accusative ⟨mulierem⟩: Old French moillier, Occitan molher, Catalan muller, Spanish mujer, Sardinian muzere and Romanian muiere.^[8][2][4] The word almost entirely replaced uxor (“wife”) in the Romance languages.^[4]

The origin of the Latin noun is unknown.^[2][3] The derivative muliebris shows that it was once an s-stem, ⟨*mulies⟩.^[9][10] The ancient link with mollis (“soft”), already in Isidore, is usually seen as a folk etymology, but Nocentini thinks it may be right if the root is taken in its simple form, as in Ancient Greek ἀμαλός (amalós, “tender”), with the sense “young”: the word would first have meant a girl of marriageable age.^[8][1] De Vaan reviews the explanations as a comparative of the same adjective or of melior (“better”) (“the better one, the chief wife”) and finds both difficult.^[9] Wiktionary also mentions a link with mulgeō (“to milk”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form molge in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, at the end of the 12th century, already for a wife.^[2][8] The form moglie appears in Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin mulier was a woman in general, and the wife as a legal partner was uxor; in Italian the word took over the sense “wife”, while donna became the word for a woman.^[11][3][4] The verb ammogliare “to give a wife to” is recorded in the second half of the 13th century.^[8] DELI points to a 1955 exchange in the journal Le lingue del mondo on the stylistic and social contrast between moglie and (mia) signora.^[2]

Proverbs and sayings with the word include volere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca “to have one's cake and eat it”, moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi “choose a wife and oxen from your own village”, tra moglie e marito non mettere il dito “don't meddle between husband and wife” and essere come la moglie di Cesare, of someone who must be above suspicion.^{[12][7][6][11]} Tommaseo–Bellini collected many more, such as “La buona moglie fa il buon marito” (a good wife makes a good husband).^[13]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Molge “wife” appears in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.^[2][3]
• Second half of the 13th century – Ammogliare is recorded.^[8]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the form moglie.^[2]
• 1955 – A debate on moglie and signora appears in Le lingue del mondo.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. wife, a married woman in relation to her husband: Sua moglie insegna matematica al liceo.^[3][14][12]
2. (humorous) The female of a pair of animals.^[3]

Word family

• ammogliare
• mogliettina
• mogliesco

Related words

• marito
• donna
• muliebre
• Latin mulier

Usage notes

Phrases include prendere moglie “to marry (of a man)”, chiedere in moglie “to ask in marriage” and essere marito e moglie “to be married”.^[3][7][12] Moglie morganatica is the wife of a morganatic marriage.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
6. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 285
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse