pupa

Forms

pupa f (plural pupe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pūpa (“girl; doll”), a Latin word of expressive, childish origin, beside pūpus (“little boy”).^[2][3][4][1] DELI points out that the whole family, this word, pupo, pupazzo and their derivatives, reached the standard language through the dialect of Rome.^[2] Nocentini sets beside it a variant Vulgar Latin *puppa, the source of poppa, and notes that French poupée matches the old and dialect form Old Italian poppada.^[3] Wiktionary treats the two Italian words as doublets.^[1]

De Vaan takes the Latin word as a reduplicated form of the element ⟨pū-⟩ seen in puer (“boy”);^[5] Pokorny's derivation from a root meaning “to inflate” is possible, but he prefers the link with the other affective words in ⟨pū-⟩.^[5] Latin derived pūpilla (“little girl; pupil of the eye”) and pūpillus (“ward”) from it.^[5]

The word for the insect stage is pupa of scientific Latin, a name Linnaeus gave it in his Systema naturae of 1735, after the doll-like look of the enclosed insect.^[2][3][6] Etymonline dates Linnaeus's use to 1758 and explains it by the idea of an undeveloped creature.^[7] DEI sees in it a calque of Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē, “bride; nymph”), with an allusion to the bride's long veil.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1614, when Politi's Tuscan dictionary noted that the people of Siena call the rag dolls girls make for play pupe;^[2][4] Viani quoted the passage in 1860.^[2][4] The first sense is thus “doll”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In 1905 Panzini described pupa “doll” as a pure Latin word used in Romagna, Lazio and much of central Italy, and noted that in Romagna a dressmaker's wicker dummy was also called la pupa.^[2] From the doll the word passed to a little girl, as a pet name (Dossi, before 1910), and in familiar speech to an attractive young woman.^[2][4][9] The Treccani dictionary notes that the recent use, coloured by film dialogue, can sound vulgar.^[9] Figuratively pupa was also a person treated like a puppet, without a will of their own.^[10]

The zoological sense came from scientific Latin: Spallanzani, before 1799, speaks of insects that pass through the three stages of larva, pupa and flying adult.^[2][10] French has pupe from 1869 and English pupa from 1815 according to DEI,^[8] while Etymonline dates the English word to 1773.^[7]

Timeline

• 1614 – Politi records pupe, the Sienese word for rag dolls.^[2][4]
• 1735 – Linnaeus introduces scientific Latin pupa in the Systema naturae.^[2][3]
• Before 1799 – Spallanzani uses pupa for the insect stage.^[2][4]
• 1860 – Viani notes the diminutive pupattole in use in Siena.^[2]
• 1905 – Panzini records pupa “doll” in Romagna, Lazio and central Italy.^[2]
• Before 1910 – Dossi uses the word for a little girl.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A doll, a child's toy.^[4][11][12]
2. (regional) A little girl, especially as a pet name: Vieni qui, pupa mia.^[4][11][6]
3. (colloquial) An attractive young woman; also a joking or flirtatious form of address.^[4][11][6]
4. (zoology) A pupa, the resting stage of insects with complete metamorfosi, between the larva and the adult, often inside a cocoon; also called ninfa.^[4][6][9]
5. (zoology) The secondary larva of the sea cucumbers.^[4]

Word family

• pupattola
• pupetta
• impuparsi
• pupario
• pupale

Related words

• pupo
• pupazzo
• poppa
• pupilla
• Latin pupa

Usage notes

Pupa is also a 20th-century name of the upupa (hoopoe), with the first syllable dropped.^[4] The diminutives are pupina and pupetta, the augmentative pupona.^[11][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3153
9. ^ a b c d 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, p. 14, 1010
11. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli