mulo

Forms

mulo m (plural muli, feminine mula)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mūlus (“mule”).^[2][3][4][1] The same word is Old French mul and French mule, Occitan mul, Catalan mul, Spanish mulo, Portuguese mu, Logudorese mulu and Engadine mül;^[3][5] Romanian does not have it.^[6] It passed into Old High German mūl, the first part of German Maulesel.^[3]

The Latin word is not Indo-European.^[2] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *musklo- or *mukslo-, compares Ancient Greek μυχλός (mukhlós), a Phocaean name for a breeding donkey recorded by Hesychius, and Albanian mushk, and takes it as probably a loan that reached Europe from Asia Minor.^[7] DELI also points to Asia, DEI and Devoto to the Mediterranean, and Nocentini, like the word for the donkey, to an unknown eastern source.^[2][6][8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, who speaks of muli fatti di giomenta e d'asino, “mules made from a mare and a donkey”.^[2] GRADIT dates it to the second half of the 13th century, Zingarelli to 1266.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

As the offspring of a cross, the mule gave the sense “bastard”, found in Dante;^[6][10] the sense “stubborn person” is recorded in the 19th century.^[6] Mulattiere “muleteer” is recorded in 1317, and strada mulattiera “mule track” in 1844, shortened to mulattiera by 1869.^[2] Nocentini sees the same two lines in later derivatives: the beast of burden in muletto, a forklift truck (1981), and the cross in mulatto.^[3]

In Trieste and the dialects of the Veneto mulo came to mean “boy, kid”, and mula “girl”: Meyer-Lübke records Veronese and Triestine mulo “bastard”, Triestine mulo “street urchin” and Abruzzese mule “foundling”.^[5][3] Nocentini explains it as “no longer a child and not yet a man”;^[3][9][11] Zingarelli and Sabatini–Coletti derive it from the sense “bastard”.^[3][9][11] Devoto–Oli dates it in Italian to before 1905, and Slataper used mularia “gang of boys”.^[12][6]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses mulo.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a bastard.^[6]
• 1317 – Mulattiere is recorded in a Florentine customs tariff.^[2]
• 1844 – Strada mulattiera is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1905 – Mulo “boy” is recorded in Italian.^[12]
• 1981 – Muletto “forklift truck” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mule: the sterile hybrid of a donkey and a mare, used as a pack or riding animal, especially in the mountains.^[4][12][13]
2. (figurative) A stubborn person: Con lui non si discute, è un mulo.^[4][12][13]
3. (vulgar, derogatory, dated) An illegitimate child, a bastard.^[4][9][14]
4. (biology) A sterile hybrid of two species, also of plants.^[4][12][13]
5. mulo meccanico: a four-wheeled motor vehicle used by mountain troops.^[12][9]
6. (regional, Trieste and north-eastern Italy) A boy, a kid; an urchin.^{[4][12][11][13]}

Word family

• mula
• muletto
• mulattiere
• mulattiera
• mulattiero
• mulaggine
• mulesco

Related words

• mulatto
• Latin mulus

Usage notes

GRADIT treats mulo “boy” as a separate regional word;^{[4][12][11][9]} Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli derive it from mulo through the sense “bastard”.^{[4][12][11][9]} An unrelated mulo in Ariosto is a northern spelling of mullo, the red mullet.^[6][15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2528
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. 290
9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 686
11. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET