serpillo

Forms

serpillo m (plural serpilli)^[1] Old forms are Old Italian cerpillo and Old Italian cirpillo.^[2] The GDLI gives the old form sarpillo, and the popular form is serpollo.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin serpyllum (“wild thyme”), a learned borrowing.^[1][5][6] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἕρπυλλον (hérpyllon), from ἕρπω (hérpō, “to creep”).^[6][7][3] Its initial ⟨s-⟩ comes from crossing with Latin serpō (“to creep”).^[8][9][2] Wiktionary adds that serpullum was the usual Old Latin spelling, and that this form lived on in speech.^[1]

Zingarelli and Gabrielli start from a variant serpillum beside the other spellings.^[10][11] Körting calls the Italian word learned, and lists the popular outcomes sermollo, sermollino, French serpolet, Catalan serpoll and Portuguese serpol.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine translation of the Antidotarium Nicolai from the late 13th century;^[2] Boccaccio has it in the Ameto (1341–1342).^[2] The sense is the aromatic plant of the genus Thymus used in medicine.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio describes the plant covering the ground with its very thin arms (occupante la terra con sottilissime braccia), and Old Italian medical texts prescribe its decoction for the eyes.^[3][12] Mattioli explains the name by the plant's creeping habit, since every branch that touches the ground takes root.^[12]

The modern name covers several closely similar species once grouped as Thymus serpyllum, and an essential oil from the flowering plant is used in pharmacy and perfumery.^[4][3] English borrowed it as serpille (1558), now obsolete.^[13]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – First record, in the translation of the Antidotarium Nicolai.^[2]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses it in the Ameto.^[2]
• 1558 – English serpille is recorded.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum and related species), a creeping aromatic plant similar to thyme, with small purple or pink flowers, used in medicine, cosmetics and cooking; the same as serpollino.^[6][7][4][1]

Related words

• serpollo
• serpollino
• sermollino
• timo
• Latin serpyllum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
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 Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
6. ^ a b c 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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3462
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it