niello

Forms

niello m (plural nielli)^[1] Older forms are Old Italian neello and Old Italian neiello.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin nigellum, the noun use of Latin nigellus (“blackish”), a diminutive of niger (“black”).^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The work is named after the black filling.^[3][5] Devoto notes that the /g/ was lost between front vowels, as in dito.^[8] The Medieval Latin phrase ⟨ad niello⟩ is recorded at Venice in 1090, and Medieval Latin nigellatus at the papal court in 1295.^[3]

The Latin adjective survives with its first sense in Sardinian nieddu (“black”), and as Romanian negel (“wart”).^[9][10] The technical noun is Old French neel, and Occitan niell and Catalan niell, from which Spanish niel and Portuguese niello come, according to Nocentini; the REW instead derives the Spanish and Portuguese words from Italian.^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Italian word is first recorded before 1460 in the accounts of a Rinuccini, for a silver belt fitting con traforo e niello (“with openwork and niello”); DELI hesitates between Filippo and Alamanno Rinuccini.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Goldsmiths in Italy had practised the craft since the 12th century, and it flourished in the 15th.^[9][11] Vasari describes niello as a hatched drawing on silver, made as with a pen.^[2][12] The word came to name the object so decorated, the black alloy itself, and a proof on damp paper pulled from the engraved plate.^[2][5] The verb niellare is recorded from Biringuccio, before 1537.^[3]

French took nielle as a semantic calque in 1823, English borrowed niello in 1816 for the black compound, and German had Niello by 1839.^[13][9]

Timeline

• 1090 – Medieval Latin ad niello is recorded at Venice.^[3]
• 1295 – Medieval Latin nigellatus is recorded at the papal court.^[3]
• Before 1460 – Italian niello is first recorded.^[3][5]
• Before 1537 – Biringuccio uses niellare.^[3]
• 1810 – Niellatore is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1816 – English borrows niello.^[13]
• 1823 – French nielle is recorded in this sense.^[13]
• 1839 – German Niello is recorded.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (goldsmithing) niello: the technique of filling lines engraved with a burin in gold or silver with a black alloy of silver, copper, lead and sulphur.^{[5][14][6][15]}
2. An object decorated in this way: un niello del Quattrocento.^[5][6][11]
3. The black compound used for this work.^[5][15][16]
4. (figurative, uncommon) Minute care for detail; extreme refinement.^[17]

Word family

• niellare
• niellatore
• niellatura
• niellista

Related words

• nero
• Latin niger
• French nielle

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 296
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2585
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli