stoppa

Forms

stoppa f (plural stoppe)^[1] An old form is Old Italian stopa, recorded in Pavia and Bologna in the 13th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin stuppa (“tow, coarse flax”).^[4][5][6][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek στύππη (stúppē, “tow, raw flax fibres”).^[4][5][7] Festus already said so.^[2] Nocentini calls it pan-Romance: French étoupe, Occitan estopa, Catalan estopa, Spanish estopa, Portuguese estopa, Sardinian istuppa and Romanian stupă.^[5][8] The Latin word passed early into Celtic, as in Breton stouf “plug”, and into Germanic.^[2][8]

DELI calls the Greek word Indo-European.^[4] Wiktionary thinks it is probably from Pre-Greek or another Mediterranean substrate.^[1] DEI compares stoffa.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is the statute of the gabella and the tolls of Siena, 1301–1303, which taxes linen, hemp and tow.^[4][9] Medieval Latin stopa is found at Bologna in 1288, and Zingarelli dates the Italian word before 1292.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

Tow was the waste of combing flax and hemp, used for stuffing, for caulking ships when tarred, and for sealing pipe joints.^[4][6][11] Giamboni describes it wrapped round a fire spear, and in Boccaccio a man is ordered to spin tow like a child.^[3]

Comparisons with tow gave many figurative phrases: capelli di stoppa “very pale blond hair”, gambe di stoppa “weak legs”, uomo di stoppa “a man of straw”, avere stoppa nel cervello “to be stupid”, and essere come un pulcino nella stoppa, to be helpless.^[11][10][12] DELI thinks uomo di stoppa comes from Milanese omm de stoppa (1814).^[4] In Tuscany stoppa is also a drunken spree, and the name of a card game.^[6][13][10]

Timeline

• 1288 – Medieval Latin stopa at Bologna.^[4]
• 1301–1303 – The statute of the gabella of Siena has stoppa.^[4]
• Before 1348 – G. Villani uses stoppare “to plug with tow”.^[4]
• 14th century – Stoppino “wick” appears.^[4]
• 1671 – F. Redi uses stoppaccio.^[4]
• 1814 – Milanese omm de stoppa is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. tow: the short fibres left from combing flax and hemp, used for stuffing, for sealing pipe joints and, tarred, as oakum for caulking boats.^{[6][12][13][10][1]}
2. (figurative) In comparisons, a fibrous, stringy texture: Questa bistecca è stoppa.^[6][12][10]
3. (regional, Tuscany) A drinking bout, a sbornia: Ieri sera s'è presa una stoppa.^{[6][12][13][10]}
4. (regional) A card game.^[6][13]

Word family

• stoppino
• stoppare
• stopposo
• stoppaccio

Related words

• stoffa
• Latin stuppa
• French étoupe

Usage notes

Common phrases: di stoppa (of hair, very pale blond; of legs, weak), uomo di stoppa (a man without will or authority) and pulcino nella stoppa (someone helpless).^[6][11][14] Stoppa is also a form of the verb stoppare.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3641
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 223
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org