puleggia

Forms

puleggia f (plural pulegge)^[1] Older forms are the masculine puleggio and poleggia.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *polidia, a neuter plural taken as a feminine singular.^[2][5][6][7] This is from Ancient Greek πολίδιον (polídion), which Nocentini marks as unattested and REW glosses as a door hinge or winch, a diminutive of πόλος (pólos, “axis, pivot”), the source of polo.^[5][8][2] Treccani and the GDLI go through the verb ἐμπολίζω (empolízō, “to turn on a pivot”).^[9][10] Prati found the derivation doubtful.^[11] The Vulgar Latin cluster /dj/ gave ⟨ggi⟩ as in modius, moggio.^[12]

The same word is French poulie and Occitan poleia, and Spanish polea and Portuguese polé came from French or Occitan.^[5][8][3] DEI thinks the word spread from Marseille through the Latin of Narbonese Gaul.^[3] He cites Medieval Latin polea and polegia in France in 1305 and 1362 and poligia at the papal court in 1341, and suggests that the gender followed Latin trochlea (“pulley”) or corrigia (“strap”).^[3] Zaccaria too held that the Italian form, recorded only in the 16th century, rests on this Medieval Latin word.^[13] DEI also allows a noun formed from a verb *polizare.^[3]

Diez and Scheler derived the French noun from a verb poulier, from Old English pullian (“to pull”).^[13] Körting follows Gaston Paris's derivation from the Greek word.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The masculine puleggio appears first in the statutes of the Knights of Saint Stephen, which DEI dates 1562 and DELI 1562–1590, for a wheel that turns on an axle and carries a rope.^[2][3] GRADIT dates the word before 1564.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Puleggia itself is recorded in Alessandro Falconi in 1612;^[2][3][15] Bartolomeo Crescenzio has poleggia in 1602, and Baldinucci defined it in 1681 as a kind of wheel for tackle and pulleys (carrucole).^[2][3][15]

With mechanical engineering the word came to mean above all the grooved wheel on a shaft that transmits motion through belts, ropes or chains; for a wheel that only changes the direction of a force, carrucola is the proper term.^[10][9] Tommaseo still distinguished puleggia, a small grooved iron wheel, from the wheel of a well pulley.^[15] French poulie passed into English as pulley.^[3][13]

Timeline

• 1305 – Medieval Latin polea or polegia is recorded in France.^[3]
• 1562 – Puleggio appears in the statutes of the Knights of Saint Stephen.^[3][2]
• 1602 – Bartolomeo Crescenzio writes poleggia.^[3]
• 1612 – Alessandro Falconi has puleggia.^[2]
• 1681 – Baldinucci defines the word in his dictionary of the arts of design.^[3][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mechanics) pulley: a wheel on a shaft, with a rim shaped to take a belt, rope or chain, used to lift loads or to transmit rotation to a machine part.^{[6][4][16][1]}
2. A carrucola.^[6][7]

Related words

• polo
• paleo
• carrucola
• French poulie
• English pulley

Usage notes

A puleggia fissa is keyed to its shaft, while a puleggia folle turns freely on it.^[4][9] The plural is pulegge.^[4][16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 f g h i j k l m Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3143
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 811
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
14. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
15. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli