vergola

Forms

vergola f (plural vergole)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin virgula (“little rod, twig”), a diminutive of virga (“twig, rod”) with the suffix -ula.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} In Late Latin the word also meant a strip or band used to trim clothing, which lies behind the textile senses.^[3]

Its learned doublet is virgola.^[1][3] The same Latin word survives in the Alpine area: the REW gives Romansh viercla and Ladin verdla, and Friulian vergule for the stick of the flail.^[6] DEI calls it a word of the Alpine and Italian area.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Proverbia pseudoiacoponici, a 13th-century text from the Abruzzo, where it means a small branch or bough.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian vergola was a twig or stalk, a little stick, and figuratively a thin column of smoke.^[8] The Fioretti di San Francesco tell of a fragrance that rose con una vergola di fummo like incense.^[9][7] The word could also mean a streak in a fabric, a line of writing or any long line.^[8] The adjective vergolato “striped” is in Sacchetti, and the verb vergolare meant to mark with little lines.^[10][3]

From the 16th century the word belongs to textiles.^[2] The Descrizione del Canto de' Sogni describes a costume trimmed con andari di vergola d'oro e seta nera, with stripes of gold thread and black silk: DELI dates the text to 1556, DEI to 1566.^[2][11][7] A Tuscan manuscript of 1632 has vergolaio, the maker of the thread.^[2] The sense of a twisted silk thread for buttonholes is recorded from 1731, and DEI has a twisted cotton thread in 1607.^[2][7] By likeness the GDLI also has a thin vein in a stone.^[11]

In the dialects of Tuscany, Veneto and Trentino vèrgola is the flail, or more exactly its shorter stick.^[12]

Timeline

• 13th century – Vergola “small branch” in the Proverbia pseudoiacoponici.^[8]
• 14th century – Una vergola di fummo, a thin column of smoke, in the Fioretti di San Francesco.^[7][9]
• 1504 – The date Zingarelli gives for the word.^[13]
• 1556 – Strips of gold and silk thread in the Canto de' Sogni.^[2]
• 1607 – A twisted cotton thread.^[7]
• 1632 – Vergolaio in a Tuscan manuscript.^[2]
• 1731 – Twisted silk thread for buttonholes, cited from A. Biscioni.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A doubled and twisted silk thread, used for making buttonholes.^[4][13][14]
2. (textiles) A thin strip of silk or gold thread woven into a cloth or sewn onto it as ornament.^{[4][15][16][14]}

Word family

• vergolare
• vergolina
• vergolato
• vergolaio

Related words

• virgola
• verga
• Latin virga

Usage notes

Vergola was also the Venetian name of a light boat that easily capsized, recorded in the 16th century by Salviati and Aretino.^[11][9][7] The GDLI and DEI suggest a link with Trentino svérgol “twisted”.^[11][7] The diminutive vergolina is a cord of twisted cotton waste wound with silk or rayon, used in embroidery.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4022
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1047
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse