nottola

Forms

nottola f (plural nottole)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian noctola and the masculine Old Italian nottolo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin noctula, a diminutive of Latin noctua (“little owl”).^[4][5][6][1] DEI notes that the Late Latin word appears in Soranus in place of the classical word.^[7] Nocentini gives a Vulgar Latin *noctula, meaning “owl; bat” and properly “night bird”, from nox (“night”).^[8] Prati also starts from a popular Latin form.^[3] Zingarelli alone calls it a learned word.^[9]

The Latin word is the feminine of an unattested adjective *noctuus, from noctū (“by night”).^[10][1] The same diminutive is Venetian notola “bat”, and DEI finds the bat sense widespread in dialects from Veneto and Lombardy to Naples, Apulia and Calabria.^[11][7]

The sense “latch” comes from the shape of the wooden bar, which recalls a bird's beak.^[12][6][1] DEI gives it a separate heading, but DELI and the GDLI derive it from the bird name.^[7][13][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Tuscan Bestiario moralizzato of the 13th century, for a night bird, in particular the bat.^[2] DELI dates the sense “owl” to Cenne da la Chitarra, who died before 1336, and the latch to the records of the Ufficiali sopra le castella, 1350–1366.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The bird and the bat were not kept apart.^[2][6][14] A Bible translation lists la nottola among the birds that may not be eaten, and Redi grouped le strigi o nottole with the owls among the nocturnal birds of prey.^[6][14] Franco Sacchetti used it for the bat, before 1400.^[13][14] The proverb portare nottole ad Atene, “to carry owls to Athens”, doing something useless, translates the Latin Athenas noctuas mittere;^[12][10] Ariosto wrote nottole a Atene.^[12][10]

From the bird came the wooden latch, recorded from the 14th century and used by Firenzuola and Soffici.^[13][6] Carena recorded the strip of a frame saw in 1853, and Stratico a nautical sense in 1813.^[13][7] In slang the word has meant a night watchman.^[5][15]

In zoology nottola is the noctule bat, Nyctalus noctula.^[4][5][12] Schreber took the species name from Latin noctula in 1774.^[1] The Latin word itself had taken the bat sense from Italian nottola.^[1] French noctule, borrowed from the same name, gave the English word noctule.^[1]

Timeline

• 1200s – the Bestiario moralizzato uses the word for a night bird or bat.^[2]
• Before 1336 – Cenne da la Chitarra uses it for an owl.^[13][6]
• 1350–1366 – the sense “wooden latch” in the records of the Ufficiali sopra le castella.^[13]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it for the bat.^[13]
• 1774 – Schreber names the noctule Nyctalus noctula.^[1]
• 1813 – Stratico records a nautical sense.^[7]
• 1853 – Carena records the strip of the frame saw.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) the noctule, a large reddish-brown European bat (Nyctalus noctula) that feeds on insects.^{[4][5][16][12]}
2. (regional) the nightjar; succiacapre.^[4][16][12]
3. (regional) the eagle ray and related rays.^[4][5][12]
4. (archaic) the little owl; civetta.^{[4][5][16][9]}
5. A wooden latch turning on a pin, used to close doors, gates and shutters; nottolino.^{[4][5][16][12]}
6. (crafts) the wooden strip of a frame saw that keeps the cord taut.^[5][16][15]
7. (nautical) a block that keeps an oar from rubbing against the side of a boat.^[4][7]
8. A turned wooden knob used as a support or ornament on furniture.^[4]
9. (slang) a night watchman.^[5][15]

Word family

• nottolino
• nottolone
• annottolare

Related words

• notte
• nottua
• Latin noctua
• French noctule

Usage notes

Tommaseo–Bellini also record an obsolete nottola, a band of cloth joining two parts of a garment.^[14] Pesce nottola is a name of the eagle ray.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 702
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2604
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse