poggia

Forms

poggia f (plural pogge)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin podia (“rope for stretching the sail”), from Late Greek ποδία (podía), a derivative of πούς (poús, “foot”) (genitive ποδός (podós)).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The plural πόδες (pódes, “feet”) named the two lower corners of a sail and the ropes tied to them.^[2][6][5] Servius glosses podia as the rope by which the sail is stretched.^[7][6] Nocentini gives the Greek sense as “sheet”, the rope that turns the sail to the wind.^[3] Medieval Latin pogia is recorded in 1268.^[2][6]

Italian lent the word to Old French poge.^[3][8][9] Wiktionary also lists Occitan poja, Old Catalan puja, Old Spanish puja, Portuguese poja and Ottoman Turkish, whence Turkish poca and boca.^[1][6] A related Medieval Greek sense, “hem of a garment”, lives on in Sicilian and Calabrian pudìa and Neapolitan podea.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the TLIO is in Francesco da Barberino's Documenti d'Amore of 1314, where the crew must be ready to haul the rope: tirar la poggia.^[10][11] The same author has poggia in his Medieval Latin, defining it as the rope every sailor must watch and work.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the rope that turns the sail away from the wind, the word passed to the leeward side of the ship, as Nocentini explains.^[3] Dante has this sense before 1321.^[2] Old and dialect forms include pogia, pozia, pòza and pozza.^[10][11]

Poggia is the opposite of orza, the windward side, and the two together named the two sides of a ship.^[10][5] Petrarch writes of a ship that forces its way senza alternar poggia con orza (without changing between leeward and windward).^[7] In the oared galleys poggia con orza meant “right and left”.^[7]

The verb poggiare “to bear away from the wind” was formed from it.^[2][3][4] French had poge for the rope and the side from the 14th century, and German Potza is recorded in 1434.^[9]

Timeline

• 1268 – Medieval Latin pogia is recorded.^[2][6]
• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino uses poggia for the rope.^[10][2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for the leeward side.^[2]
• 14th century – French poge is recorded.^[9]
• 1434 – German Potza is recorded.^[9]
• 1614 – Pantera records the verb poggiare “to bear away”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) On lateen-rigged ships, a rope or tackle tied to the lower end of the yard that brings the sail to leeward.^{[4][12][13][1]}
2. (nautical) The leeward side of a vessel, as opposed to orza.^{[4][12][14][15][1]}
3. (nautical) a poggia!: the order to the helmsman to bear away from the wind.^[4][13]

Word family

• poggiare
• poggiero

Related words

• poggio
• orza
• Ancient Greek πούς (poús)

Usage notes

Andare a poggia or venire a poggia means to turn the ship away from the wind, and navigare alla poggia to sail with the wind abaft the beam.^[13][16] A variant puggia is also recorded.^[12][15]

Poggia is also a form of the verb poggiare (third person singular present and second person singular imperative). GRADIT has three verbs of that spelling: poggiare “to rest, lean”, from Latin *podiāre, poggiare “to bear away”, formed from poggia, and poggiare “to climb”, from poggio.^[4]

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 j 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2987
7. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 716
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli