tarlo

Forms

tarlo m (plural tarli)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *tarlum, a variant of the glossaries' Late Latin tarmum, which stands for classical Latin tarmes (“woodworm; maggot in meat”).^[2][1] Most dictionaries start from a diminutive *tarmŭlum, shortened by syncope.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

DELI holds that the sense points instead to the glossary form crossed with a word such as *cariolus (“woodworm”), from Latin caries (“decay”).^[10][11][12] The variant taruolo is well recorded, and two editions of A. Gallo's agricultural treatise, of 1565 and 1566, alternate carolente and tarlato.^[10] Meyer-Lübke also explained the Italian word and its relatives as the same crossing.^[13] The LEI, which reconstructs this base already for Late Latin, lists under it the forms with the suffix -ulus influenced by the classical synonym.^[14]

DEI calls the origin uncertain: the noun is older than the verb tarlare, so it can't come from taruolo.^[15] It allows the diminutive if the word spread from the north, and a *tarulus from the glossary form crossed with varulus (“small pustule”), which would also explain the southern forms.^[15] Comparable forms are Logudorese tàralu, northern Calabrian tàrulu and Old French tarle, tarlain.^[15][13]

The same Latin word gave the moth's name, and Wiktionary calls tarma a doublet of this word.^[1][2] The classical word has no certain comparison according to Nocentini.^[2] The OLD relates it to terō (“to rub”), and Wiktionary derives it, despite the unusual suffix, from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, twist”), with Ancient Greek τερηδών (terēdṓn, “woodworm”) as a cognate.^[16][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word before 1271, and DEI has it in Venice in 1271.^[4][15] The first literary record is the Fiore di virtù (1313–1323), with the sense “insect that gnaws wood”: “as the woodworm consumes the wood, so envy consumes the body of man”.^{[8][2][10][17]}

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense of something that torments or ruins appears already in Old Italian, in Pucci.^[8][15] Petrarch compares love to the woodworm: Ché legno vecchio mai non róse tarlo / Come questi ’l mio core (“for woodworm never gnawed old wood as this one gnaws my heart”).^[18][12][17] In the 14th century the word also named the powder that the insect leaves behind.^[8][15] A Tuscan proverb says ogni legno ha il suo tarlo, “every wood has its worm”.^[17]

G. Soderini wrote before 1597 that all the grubs spoiling trees were generally called tarli.^[10] In 1805 D'Alberti recorded the phrase avere il tarlo con alcuno “to bear someone a grudge”, and in 1879 Tommaseo the general figurative sense “torment that gnaws the mind”, as in il tarlo del dubbio.^[10][15] The use for the clothes moth, which DELI calls improper, is recorded from 1855.^[10]

The derivatives followed: tarlatura “powder of the woodworm” (1568, Mattioli) and “gallery in the wood” (1640), and the verb tarlare (1598, Florio).^[10] In veterinary use tarlo is also a popular name for onychomycosis of horses.^[18][4]

Timeline

• Before 1271 – First record.^[4] DEI has it in Venice in 1271.^[15]
• 1313–1323 – The Fiore di virtù uses tarlo for the woodworm.^[8][2]
• 1466 – A Bolognese Medieval Latin text speaks of a discum nucis tarlatum, a worm-eaten walnut table.^[10]
• 1568 – Mattioli has tarlare and tarlatura.^[10]
• Before 1597 – Soderini calls all the grubs that spoil trees tarli.^[10]
• 1805 – D'Alberti records avere il tarlo con alcuno “to bear a grudge”.^[10]
• 1855 – Tarlo is used for the clothes moth.^[10]
• 1879 – Tommaseo records the figurative sense “torment”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. woodworm: the larva or adult of various small beetles, chiefly of the family Anobiidae, that bore galleries in wood: Il vecchio armadio della nonna è pieno di tarli.^[4][5][3][1]
2. The clothes moth.^[4][19]
3. (figurative) A persistent torment or worry that gnaws at the mind: Lo rodeva il tarlo del sospetto.^{[4][5][3][6][1]}
4. (archaic) A grudge: avere il tarlo con qualcuno, to bear someone a grudge.^[5][6][19]
5. (veterinary) onychomycosis of horses.^[4][18]

Word family

• tarlare
• tarlatura
• intarlare
• antitarlo

Related words

• tarma
• termite
• carie
• Latin tarmes

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 12, 122
15. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3722
16. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
18. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
19. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli