mola

Forms

mola f (plural mole)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mola (“millstone; mill”), derived from molō (“to grind”).^[2][3][4][5] The noun is found all across Romance: French meule, Occitan mola, Catalan mola, Spanish muela, Portuguese mó, Sardinian mòla and Romanian moară.^[3][6] The Latin verb did not survive in Italian, but it did in French moudre, Catalan moldre, Spanish moler and Portuguese moer, and in Piedmontese möle.^[3][7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”), perhaps through a noun *molh₂-h₂- (“mill(stone)”).^[1][8] Its cognates include Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē, “mill”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌽 (malan, “to grind”), Lithuanian malti and Russian молоть (molotʹ).^[8][3] In Greek, Armenian and Indo-Iranian the root came to mean “to crush”, while a different root supplied “to grind”.^[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Iacopone, before 1306, is the first to use mola both for the millstone and for a heavy wheel of stone or metal: gluttony is “heavier than a millstone”.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Dante compares the sun's course to a wheel and not to a mola, and in the Paradiso a ring of blessed spirits begins to turn like a “holy millstone” (la santa mola).^[10][11][12] The Tuscan proverb chi fugge la mola scansa la farina (who avoids the mill avoids the flour) means that whoever keeps away from bad company escapes its stains.^[10][12]

C. Cennini in the 15th century uses the word for an abrasive wheel turned to sharpen and polish, the main sense today.^[2] In medicine mola has named since the 14th century a mass of flesh growing in the womb in place of a fetus; it follows Latin usage already found in Pliny, itself modelled on Greek μύλη (múlē).^[7][12][10]

The sunfish was called mola from its shape, first in N. Serpetro in 1653;^[2] Salviani in 1554–58 gives it as a Neapolitan name.^[2] The name became the zoological genus Mola.^[4] Battisti and Alessio also record a learned mola “molar tooth” in Ariosto, and mola survives in some dialects as a millstone.^[7][12]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses mola “millstone” and “heavy wheel”.^[2]
• 14th century – Mola names a growth in the womb.^[7][11]
• 15th century – C. Cennini uses it for an abrasive wheel.^[2]
• 1554–1558 – Salviani gives mola as a Neapolitan name of the sunfish.^[2]
• 1653 – N. Serpetro uses mola for the sunfish.^[2]
• 1922 – The derivative molatura “grinding” is recorded.^[3]
• 1957 – Molatrice “grinding machine” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (technology) A grinding wheel: a rotating disc of abrasive material used to sharpen, grind or polish, especially metal.^[4][5][13]
2. A millstone, the stone of a mill or of an olive press.^[4][5][14]
3. (colloquial) An angle grinder; also a bench grinder.^[1][13]
4. (historical, Rome) A water mill, especially one of those that stood by the Isola Tiberina.^[1]
5. (medicine) A hydatidiform mole (mola vescicolare), a growth in the womb during pregnancy.^[4][5][14]
6. (zoology) The sunfish (pesce mola); with a capital, its genus.^[4][5][11]
7. (literary, figurative) A circle of people, as in Dante's santa mola.^[11][15]

Word family

• molare
• molatore
• molatrice
• molatura
• molazza

Related words

• mulino
• molino
• macina
• immolare
• Latin mola
• French meule

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 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2487
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. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli