pollo

Forms

pollo m (plural polli)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian pullo, Old Italian pulli and Old Italian pui.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pullum (“young of an animal; chick”).^[4][5][6][1] From the same Latin word come pulcino, pollone and pullulare.^[5]

The same word is Occitan pol, Catalan poll and Spanish pollo; the feminine gave French poule (“hen”), which replaced gallīna in central France.^[5][7][8]

The origin of the Latin noun is disputed.^[1][9] Nocentini and DEI compare Ancient Greek πῶλος (pôlos, “foal”) and Old High German folo (“foal”); the OLD derives it from Proto-Italic *putslos, comparing Sanskrit पुत्र (putrá, “son”), and Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[5][8][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Mugello tithe records of 1230–1260, which the TLIO also gives as its first source; the sense is “cock or hen”, especially as food.^[4][2] In Old Italian pollo could also mean the young of any animal, as in Latin.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio, describing the plague in the Decameron, has oxen, donkeys, sheep, pigs and fowl (i polli) wandering the abandoned fields.^[10] Old Italian proverbs used the word: fare assai polli di un uovo was to get more from something than is fair, and meglio a presente uova che domani polli is the Old Italian form of “a bird in the hand”.^[2]

The figurative sense “a naive, gullible person” is recorded by Fanfani in 1863;^[4] pollastro had a similar sense already in Burchiello (before 1449), and pollastra for an attractive, naive girl (1947) is a calque of French slang poule.^[4] Pollo d'India first named the guinea fowl and then the turkey brought from Mexico in the 16th century.^[11][8] Set phrases include conoscere i propri polli “to know who one is dealing with” and far ridere i polli “to be ridiculous”.^[6][11][3]

Timeline

• 1162 – Medieval Latin pollaster is recorded at Padua.^[4]
• 1230–1260 – The Mugello tithe records have pollo.^[4][2]
• 1262 – Pollastro “young chicken” is recorded.^[5]
• 1344 – Pollastra “young hen” is recorded.^[4]
• c. 1350 – Pollaio “henhouse” is in a translation of Crescenzi.^[4]
• 1863 – Fanfani records pollo for a gullible person.^[4]
• 1884 – Pollicoltore “poultry farmer” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. chicken: the domestic cock or hen, especially a young one raised for meat and eggs.^{[6][11][12][1]}
2. Chicken as food: pollo arrosto, brodo di pollo.^{[6][11][12][1]}
3. (figurative, colloquial) A naive person who is easily fooled, a sucker: Ci è cascato come un pollo.^{[6][11][12][1]}
4. (slang) Among drug users, a small-time dealer.^[11]
5. (archaic) Pollo d'India: the guinea fowl; later the turkey.^[11][3][13]

Word family

• pollaio
• pollaiolo
• pollame
• pollanca
• pollastra
• pollastro
• polleria
• pollicoltore
• pollicoltura
• pollino
• pollivendolo
• appollaiarsi

Related words

• pollare
• pulcino
• pullulare
• pollone
• puledro
• Latin pullus

Usage notes

Andare a letto con i polli is to go to bed very early.^[11][3][13] Pollo sultano is the purple swamphen.^[11][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3004
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 785
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana