uovo

Forms

uovo m (plural uova f, diminutive ovetto)^[1] An old form is Old Italian vovo.^[2] The popular Tuscan form is ovo, with the plural ova.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ŏvum, the spoken form of Latin ōvum (“egg”).^[6][7][8][1] The short vowel is shown by the derivative ŏvātum, as Pasquali showed, and by the Latin loan in Irish, as Campanile showed.^[6] The traditional account goes from the classical form to *óum, then by dissimilation to ⟨*òum⟩, with the ⟨v⟩ brought back after the plural ŏva.^[6][2] Nocentini explains the open vowel by the following /u/ instead.^[5] The plural uova continues the Latin neuter plural, which Italian and Ibero-Romance kept.^[9]

The same word is French œuf, Occitan uou, Catalan ou, Spanish huevo, Portuguese ovo, Sardinian ou, Friulian uf and Romanian ou.^[5][10][11]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”), the source also of Ancient Greek ᾠόν (ōión), Old High German ei (modern German Ei) and the English word egg.^[12][5][1] Schindler explained it as *ō-h₂uiom with a preposition, which de Vaan finds doubtful; he prefers a lengthened-grade derivative of the word for bird, *h₂eu-i-, so “that which belongs to a bird”.^[12] Nocentini too connects it with the root of Latin avis (“bird”).^[5][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the plural uova in a 1287 register of the Florentine convent of Santissima Annunziata of the Servants of Mary, and the singular is in the Italian translation of Crescenzi; the sense is the hen's egg.^[6] Nocentini dates the word to the middle of the 13th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Dante, writing in 1304–08, used uovo for any egg-shaped figure: in the Convivio a circle che ha figura d'uovo “that has the shape of an egg” is not a noble circle.^[6][2][7] The biological sense, the female germ cell of animals, is recorded in Petrocchi's dictionary of 1891.^[6]

L'uovo di Colombo, a simple solution nobody thinks of, refers to the story of Columbus making an egg stand by flattening one end;^[6] Benzoni told it of Columbus in 1565, but Vasari had told it of Brunelleschi, and in the 17th century it was told in Spain of Juanelo Turriano.^[6] The phrase entered the dictionaries in 1931, and French and German have it too.^[9] Uovo alla cocca (1877) adapted the French œuf à la coque, a soft-boiled egg.^[9]

Derivatives include ovaia “ovary” (15th century, from Late Latin ovarium), ovale “oval” (15th century), ovolo, the Caesar's mushroom (14th–15th century), ovario (1813) and ovulo (1834).^[5] In jest and in vulgar speech, especially in the plural, uova are the testicles.^[7]

Timeline

• 1287 – The plural uova is recorded in a Florentine register.^[6]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses uovo for an egg-shaped figure.^[6][7]
• 15th century – Ovaia and ovale appear.^[5]
• 1565 – Benzoni tells the story of Columbus's egg.^[6]
• 1813 – Ovario “ovary” is recorded.^[5]
• 1877 – Uovo alla cocca is recorded, after French œuf à la coque.^[9]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records the biological sense, the female germ cell.^[6]
• 1931 – Uovo di Colombo is recorded by Panzini.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (biology) The female gamete, the egg cell from which the embryo develops.^{[7][3][8][14]}
2. The egg of an oviparous animal, laid before the embryo develops: uova di tartaruga, di trota, di passero.^[7][3][8]
3. A hen's egg, used as food: Per la torta servono quattro uova e un po' di zucchero.^[7][3][14]
4. An egg-shaped object, especially an ornament or collector's piece; an Easter egg of chocolate (uovo di Pasqua).^[7][8][3]
5. (vulgar, humorous, usually plural) A testicle.^[7]

Word family

• ovetto
• ovaia
• ovale
• ovolo
• ovulo
• ovario
• ovaiolo
• ovoide

Related words

• uccello
• Latin ovum
• French œuf

Usage notes

The plural is feminine, le uova;^[14][3] Tuscan also has ova, and northern and central speech a masculine plural ovi.^[14][3] Derivatives take a masculine plural (gli ovetti).^[8]

Common idioms are cercare il pelo nell'uovo “to look for the hair in the egg”, to be overly fussy, camminare sulle uova “to walk on eggs”, to proceed with great caution, la gallina dalle uova d'oro, an easy source of profit, and rompere le uova nel paniere “to break the eggs in the basket”, to spoil someone's plans.^{[7][4][15][3]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3956
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli