pollaio

Forms

pollaio m (plural pollai)^[1] An old form is Old Italian polaio.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian pollo + -aio, the word for “chicken” with the suffix of places.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} Wiktionary also allows a source in Late Latin pullārium, from pullārius (“of young animals or chicks”).^[1] DEI cites the Medieval Latin form, which it says passed into Middle Low German polre, and notes that the feminine gave Sicilian puddara, a name of the Pleiades, in Sicily and Calabria.^[7]

pollo continues Latin pullus (“young animal; chick; sprout”), which is compared with Old High German folo (“foal”) and probably shares the root of puer (“boy”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the vernacular translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi, of about 1350, for a building or enclosure for poultry.^[9] Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the word to before 1320.^[8][3][6] The TLIO's first record is a Sienese chronicle of about 1362, for a farm building that shelters chickens and other farmyard birds.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The figurative “dirty, untidy and noisy place” is recorded in 1958.^[9] Colloquial phrases took the roost as a bed: andare a pollaio is to go to bed, as in Manzoni.^[10][6][5] A bastone da pollaio, the perch soiled by the birds, stands for something very dirty, and the proverb ci sono troppi galli a cantare nel pollaio says that too many people want to give orders.^[10][6] In the navy the word names a measuring pole with pegs like a hen ladder, used in target practice.^[3][10]

The poultry seller was pollaiolo in the 14th century, and Old Parmesan already had pollarolo in 1266.^[7]

Timeline

• 1266 – Old Parmesan pollarolo “poultry seller” is recorded.^[7]
• Before 1320 – The first record of pollaio.^[8][3]
• c. 1350 – The vernacular Crescenzi uses it.^[9]
• c. 1362 – A Sienese chronicle uses polaio.^[2]
• 1958 – The figurative “dirty, noisy place” is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A henhouse or chicken coop: Ogni sera chiudiamo il pollaio per via delle volpi.^[3][6][1]
2. The chickens and other farmyard birds kept there.^[3][4][10]
3. (figurative, colloquial) A dirty, untidy place.^[3][6][10]
4. (figurative, colloquial) A din, a racket; a group of people chattering loudly: In classe c'era un pollaio prima che arrivasse il maestro.^[3][4][5]
5. (nautical) A pole with pegs used to measure the deviation of shots at a towed target.^[3][10]

Word family

• pollaiolo
• appollaiarsi

Related words

• pollo
• pollame
• Latin pullus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3002
8. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)