polpo

Forms

polpo m (plural polpi)^[1] Old Italian also has puorpo.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin pulpus (“octopus”), a late form of Latin polypus found in Plinius Valerianus.^[3][4][5] Most dictionaries explain the change by the influence of pulpa (“flesh”) on the classical word.^{[6][3][7][8][9]} Nocentini treats the Italian word simply as the popular outcome of the Latin noun, and Wiktionary calls it unrelated to polpa, explaining the Late Latin form by syncope.^[10][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πολύπους (polúpous, “many-footed; octopus”), and the variant with a long ō comes from Doric πώλυπος (pṓlupos).^[1][11]

The word is found all over Romance except Romanian: Occitan poupre, whence French poulpe, and Catalan pop, Spanish pulpo, Sicilian purpu and Sardinian pulpu.^[3][10][12] With dissimilation it is Venetian folpo and Old French foupe.^[3][12] French pieuvre belongs here too and gave Italian piovra.^[12] The learned doublet is polipo.^[13][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, and in the Florentine vernacular Tesoro of the late 13th century, for the eight-armed sea mollusc, the same as polipo.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Fra Giordano counts the pesce polpo among the unclean fish that have no scales.^[3][14] Alamanni threatens to bone his enemy with the sword qual battuto polpo (“like a beaten octopus”).^[14] The meaning has not changed since; zoologists use the name for the octopods and in particular the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, for which polipo is also used.^[7][9][4] A young octopus is a polpetto.^[15]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses polpo.^[6]
• Late 13th century – The Florentine vernacular Tesoro has the word.^[2]
• 14th century – Fra Giordano mentions the pesce polpo.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The common octopus (Octopus vulgaris), a sea mollusc with a sac-shaped body and eight arms bearing two rows of suckers, caught for its meat: Al mercato abbiamo preso un polpo di due chili.^[7][8][9]
2. (zoology) Any octopod of the family Octopodidae.^[7][4]

Word family

• polpetto
• polpessa
• polpara

Related words

• polipo
• piovra
• Latin polypus
• French poulpe

Usage notes

The GDLI also has a Lucchese dialect polpo “pulp” (a masculine of polpa) and a Tuscan adjective polpo “soft; soaked”, as in briaco polpo “dead drunk”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3006
4. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ 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, 795
6. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 793
14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana