spiraglio

Forms

spiraglio m (plural spiragli)^[1] The older forms are Old Italian spieraglio and spiraghio.^[2][3] The diminutive Medieval Latin spiragliolum is recorded at Assisi in 1469.^[4]

Etymology

DELI and Nocentini take it as inherited from Latin spīrāculum (“narrow opening, air hole”), from spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).^[2][5][6] Nocentini notes that its sound shape is Gallo-Italian, and Sabatini–Coletti explains the palatal /ʎ/ from Latin ⟨cl⟩ as a Gallo-Romance development that sets the popular word apart from the learned spiracolo.^[5][6] DELI, following the FEW, rules out a loan from French or Occitan on grounds of date and meaning.^[2]

The DEI, however, calls the word a Gallicism, from Old French espirail and Old Occitan espiralh, and Meyer-Lübke also derives it from the Old French word.^[4][7] Devoto, Zingarelli and Gabrielli derive it from the Occitan form, and Treccani's dictionary speaks of a model in the Occitan and Old French words.^{[8][9][10][11]} The GDLI calls it a doublet of spiracolo that came through both.^[3] Treccani's Vocabolario points out that the French and Occitan words are recorded later than the Italian.^[12]

The same Latin word gave Catalan espirall.^[5][7] In French it was reshaped after soupirer (“to sigh”) into French soupirail.^[7][5] De Vaan finds no direct cognates for the Latin verb and takes it as perhaps imitative of the sound of breathing.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to 1287.^[9] DELI's first example is spieraglio in the Lenten sermons of Fra Giordano, 1305–1306, for a narrow crack through which air and light come in.^[2][14] Fra Giordano says of the light of the sun that one may see it through a chink, but in eternal life there are no walls.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative “glimmer, hint” is in Cione Baglioni, before 1310.^[2] In the 14th century D. Dini uses spiraglio for the draught or ray of light itself, and the Italian Crescenzi of about 1350 has the modern form, for the narrow openings left in a beehive.^[2][3] Boccaccio describes a cave lit through a spiraglio made in the mountain.^[12][15]

The figurative sense is now common in phrases such as uno spiraglio di speranza, a faint hope.^[14][12][9] Tenere a spiraglio a door or window is to leave it slightly open.^[12] In ships the word names a skylight and the prism glass set into a deck.^[14][16][12]

Timeline

• 1287 – The word is first recorded.^[9]
• 1305–1306 – Fra Giordano uses spieraglio.^[2][14]
• Before 1310 – Cione Baglioni uses it for a glimmer or hint.^[2]
• About 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi has the form spiraglio.^[2]
• 1469 – Medieval Latin spiragliolum is recorded at Assisi.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. chink, crack: a narrow opening in a wall, door or window that lets in air and light: Dalla porta socchiusa filtrava un sottile spiraglio.^{[14][16][6][9][1]}
2. (by extension) The draught of air or ray of light that comes through such an opening.^[14][16][11]
3. (figurative) A faint chance or glimmer of a way out, a result or a hope: uno spiraglio di speranza.^{[14][16][6][9][1]}
4. (nautical) Skylight (osteriggio), and the prism glass set into a deck to light the space below.^[14][16][11]

Word family

• spiraglino
• spiragliare
• spiragliato

Related words

• spiracolo
• spirare
• Latin spiraculum
• Old Occitan espiralh

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 936
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3595
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier