pollastro

Forms

pollastro m (plural pollastri, feminine pollastra)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian pollastra (“pullet”), a masculine formed from the feminine.^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} The feminine continues Latin pullastra (“young hen”), which DEI cites from Varro and Wiktionary calls Late Latin, formed from pullus (“young animal, chick”) with the suffix -aster.^[1][7][8] A masculine Medieval Latin pollaster is recorded in a Medieval Latin document from Padua of 1162.^[9][7] Sabatini–Coletti starts instead from a Medieval Latin pullastrum, and DELI, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli derive the word from the Latin noun directly.^{[10][9][11][12]}

DEI counts the Latin feminine as a word of the Italian area.^[7] Its other outcomes are Dalmatian poluastro, Campidanese puddasta and Sicilian puddastra.^{[13][8][7][1]}

The origin of the Latin noun is disputed.^[1][14] One view takes it from Proto-Indo-European *polH- (“animal young”), comparing Ancient Greek πῶλος (pôlos, “foal”).^[1] Another, followed by the OLD and by de Vaan, reconstructs Proto-Italic *putslos, related to putus (“boy”).^[1][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Sienese accounts of Mattasalà, of 1233–1243, where the word means a young cockerel raised for its meat.^[15] DELI dates it from the Ricordi di una famiglia senese (1231–1262), which records money spent in polastri.^[9][16]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for the live bird and for the bird killed and cooked, and once for a young donkey.^[15] Price lists and statutes of the 14th century set the price of a pair of pollastri, and a medical text prescribes them with kid as a diet for the sick.^[16][17]

The figurative sense, a naive man who is easily fooled, is recorded before 1449 in Burchiello.^[9] Tommaseo records the phrases pelare il pollastro and ci è caduto il pollastro, and spennare il pollastro is still said of fleecing a gullible person, especially at cards.^[17][3][5]

Timeline

• 1162 – Medieval Latin pollaster is recorded at Padua.^[9]
• 1233–1243 – Mattasalà's Sienese accounts use pollastro.^[15]
• 1231–1262 – The Ricordi di una famiglia senese record polastri.^[9]
• 14th century – The feminine pollastra appears in Pucci, and pollastro in G. Villani.^[7]
• Before 1449 – Burchiello uses the word for a simpleton.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young chicken, a cockerel.^{[2][12][3][1]}
2. (figurative, humorous) A naive, inexperienced man who is easily cheated: Al tavolo da poker cercavano un pollastro.^[2][12][3]

Word family

• pollastrello
• pollastrino
• pollastrone
• pollastrotto
• pollastraccio

Related words

• pollastra
• pollo
• Latin pullus

Usage notes

Pelare or spennare il pollastro means to fleece a gullible person.^[3][5][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 337
7. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3003
8. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET