zia Italian · revision 38302

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1348, Giovanni Villani|origins=grc θεῖος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈd͡zi.a/, /ˈt͡si.a/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''zia''' ''f'' (plural zie)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-lat|thia|t=aunt]], [[bor|grc|θεία|tr=theía|t=aunt]], the feminine of [[m|grc|θεῖος|tr=theîos|t=uncle]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary) It is the feminine of [[zio]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The classical word for a father's sister, [[la|amita]], survived only in parts of the Rhaeto-Romance area and in [[fro|ante]], the source of [[fr|tante]].^(Körting 1907)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI and GRADIT give Giovanni Villani's chronicle, before 1348, as the first record, in the sense “sister of one's father or mother”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Zingarelli dates the word to before 1237, and the GDLI quotes a poem attributed to Re Giovanni of the Sicilian School, where Iseult is Tristan's aunt: “ancor che li fosse zia” (“even though she was his aunt”).^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI|21, 1072)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Boccaccio has the word in the ''Decameron'', where an aunt of Calandrino dies.^(DEI|4113)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861|4, 1940) The sense “wife of one's uncle” is recorded only in 1961, though the use is surely older.^(DELI 1999) In colloquial speech ''zia'' is also a title of respect for an elderly woman, and in central and southern Italy it is often cut to ''zi’''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ In slang the word came to mean a male homosexual, and regionally a brothel-keeper.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GDLI|21, 1072) In Tuscany ''zie'' were also the calluses on the knees, as at Lucca they were called ''nonne'', “grandmothers”.^(DEI|4113)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses ''zia''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it in the ''Decameron''.^(DEI|4113)

+ * 1961 – The sense “wife of one's uncle” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|aunt]], the sister of one's father or mother: ''Passiamo il Natale da mia zia a Bari.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The wife of one's [[zio|alt=uncle]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' A title of respect for an elderly woman.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(vulgar, derogatory)'' A male [[m|en|homosexual]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[zietta]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[zio]]

+ * [[la-lat|thia]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Zia'' is placed before a first name with or without the article: ''zia Anna'' or ''la zia Anna''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) ''Zia paterna'' and ''zia materna'' are the father's and the mother's sister.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The GDLI also lists an obsolete nautical ''zia'', backward rowing, formed from the verb ''ziare'', and a northern Old Italian ''zia'', a variant of ''già'' “already”.^(GDLI|21, 1072)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}