sogliola

Forms

sogliola f (plural sogliole)^[1] The older form is soglia, used by Luigi Pulci.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a diminutive formed from Italian soglia + -olo, with the feminine of the suffix, from the old name of the fish.^[5][6][4] DELI, following A. Rossi, notes that the word may have been a diminutive at first and then replaced the simple form.^[5] Nocentini and the GDLI start instead from a Latin diminutive, the GDLI from Vulgar Latin *soleola.^[7][8] The simple form continues Latin sŏlea (“sandal; sole of a shoe”), which already meant the flat fish in Latin.^[5][7][9] The fish was named for its flat shape, like the sole of a sandal.^[5][10][11]

Portuguese solha has the same meaning.^[7][12] Meyer-Lübke also lists Venetian and Friulian forms, while the Latin word in its sense “sole of a shoe” became Italian suola, and in the sense “threshold” it gave the Italian word for threshold.^[12][13] The Latin word is derived from solum (“base, ground; sole of the foot”).^[14][1] That word goes back to Proto-Italic *se/olo-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“place, dwelling”), but its root vowel is uncertain.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a sonnet by Niccolò Tinucci, who died before 1444, where a host promises boiled fish with sauce, sogliole poi e muggine (“then soles and mullet”).^[5][8] The sense is the flat sea fish.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Pulci's Morgante (GRADIT dates the record to 1483) still has the older soglia in a list of fish.^[10][3] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and DEI date sogliola itself only to the 17th century.^[7][16][2] Magalotti, in the 17th century, contrasts a fish that swims edgewise with the sole, which swims flat.^[8]

The name covers several Mediterranean species of the family Soleidae, such as the common sole, the sogliola turca of the Adriatic and the sogliola pelosa.^[11][8] In everyday speech it is extended to other flatfish, such as the dab and the flounder.^[17] In engineering, a motore a sogliola is a very flat engine with horizontal cylinders, fitted under the floor of a vehicle.^[6][11] French menus have also given Italian hotel kitchens the name sole.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1444 – Niccolò Tinucci uses sogliole.^[5][8]
• 1483 – Pulci's Morgante has the older form soglia.^[10][3]
• 17th century – The date of first record in Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and DEI.^[7][16][2]
• 19th century – The diminutive sogliolina and the form sogliolùccia are recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. sole: a common sea fish with an oval, flattened body and both eyes on the right side, prized for its delicate flesh: sogliola alla mugnaia.^{[10][16][6][1]}
2. (zoology) The common sole, Solea vulgaris, found from Scandinavia to Senegal and in the Mediterranean.^[10]
3. (zoology) Any fish of the family Soleidae.^[10][16]
4. (by extension) Any flatfish.^[17]
5. (mechanics) motore a sogliola: a flat engine with horizontal cylinders.^[6][11]

Word family

• soglioletta
• sogliolina

Related words

• soglia
• suola
• suolo
• Latin solea
• Portuguese solha

Usage notes

In Tuscany sogliola was also a small stone slab at the mouth of an oven, a diminutive of soglia “threshold”.^[8] The diminutives soglioletta and sogliolina are used only of the fish.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3530
3. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 926
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
10. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli