Etymologically
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pistola

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Pronunciation

  • /pisˈtɔ.la/[1]

Forms

pistola f (plural pistole)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French pistole (“small arquebus”), recorded in 1544, from German Pistole, which was taken from Czech píšťala (“pipe, whistle”).[2][3][4] The German word entered from Czech during the Hussite Wars of 1419–1439, around 1429 according to DEI, and princes from Germany and their armies brought it to France in the 16th-century wars of religion.[2][5] The Czech word first meant a whistle or pipe, from a word for “whistle”, and so named a short tube;[2][3][5] Nocentini and DEI give it in the older form pišťal.[2][3][5] English pistol (1570) has the same origin.[5]

The older explanation from the name of the Tuscan town of Pistoia, where small daggers were made, is a folk etymology.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the report of the Venetian ambassador Giacomo Correr in 1574.[2][4] At first the pistola was a short gun that German horsemen carried on a shoulder strap; it grew smaller until two could be carried in holsters at either side of the saddle.[2]

Semantic evolution

The diminutive pistoletto (1605) at first named a cavalry pistol that was simply shorter than the ordinary ones of the time;[2] pistolettata “pistol shot” is recorded in 1611.[2] Pistolero “gunman” came from Spanish in 1935, where it first meant an anarchist gunman.[2][3]

The name passed to tools shaped like a pistol or used like one, such as the pistola a spruzzo (spray gun), and in the 19th century to Volta's electric pistol.[4][8][5] In popular and northern speech pistola is also a masculine noun for a foolish, gullible person, and a word for the penis.[4][9][10]

Timeline

  • 1544 – French pistole is first recorded.[2]
  • 1574 – Giacomo Correr uses pistola.[2][4]
  • 1605 – pistoletto is recorded.[2]
  • 1611 – Lodovico Melzo uses pistolettata.[2]
  • 1935 – pistolero is recorded.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pistol, a short firearm held in one hand: Il rapinatore ha gettato la pistola nel fiume.[4][11][10]
  2. A tool shaped like a pistol or working like one: pistola a spruzzo “spray gun”, pistola sparachiodi “nail gun”.[4][8][9]
  3. (vulgar) The penis.[4][10]
  4. (masculine, northern, colloquial) A fool, a gullible person.[4][9][8]

Word family

  • pistoletto
  • pistolettata
  • pistolero
  • pistolino
  • pistolone

Usage notes

Pistola fumante “smoking gun”, conclusive proof of a crime, is a calque of the English phrase.[11][9] Two rarer words share the spelling: pistola “pistole”, the name of the Spanish gold coins, a 17th-century borrowing of French pistole, perhaps the same word, and the obsolete pìstola, stressed on the first syllable, a shortening of epistola “letter” used by Dante and Villani.[4][8][11][12]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2953
  6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 573
  7. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 572