maiale Italian · revision 38808

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=13th century, Matazone da Caligano (as mazale)|origins=la maiālis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /maˈja.le/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''maiale''' ''m'' (plural maiali, feminine maiala)^(Wiktionary)

+ The popular form [[roa-oit|mazale]] is the earliest recorded, and survives in some dialects.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|maiālis|t=castrated boar]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(REW 1935) DELI and the GDLI call it a learned word, beside the popular form [[roa-oit|mazale]];^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini suggests that the ⟨i⟩ between vowels was kept because the word passed through the central and southern dialects.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(Nocentini 2010) [[la-med|magialis]] is recorded at Farfa in 855.^(DEI|2320) The Latin word left few other Romance outcomes, among them Old Logudorese [[m|sc|maiolariu|t=chief swineherd]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ The Romans derived the Latin word from [[m|la|Māia]], the goddess to whom a fattened pig was sacrificed.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(OLD 2012) The form fits this explanation, but de Vaan considers it suspect and possibly a popular etymology;^(de Vaan 2008) Schrijver instead linked [[sga|mát|t=pig]] through a form [[la|*māsdiālis]], but the formation is unclear.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is ''mazale'' in Matazone da Caligano, of the 13th century: ''Del mese de Natale / toge lo bon mazale'', “in the month of Christmas take the good pig”.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) The TLIO's first record of ''maiale'' is a statute of Messina from about 1338.^(TLIO) The Crescenzi translation of about 1350 explains the name: boars are castrated at about a year old, “and then they change their name, and, from boars (''verri'') they are called ''maiali''”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the word still meant a castrated pig raised for food, the sense of the Latin.^(TLIO) It later became the general word for the domestic pig, beside [[porco]], and named its meat from before 1858 (Guadagnoli).^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ Figurative uses followed: a very dirty or coarse person in Foscolo (before 1827) and a person of filthy morals in Verga (1883), while in 1863 Fanfani noted only that ''maiale'' was said of a man as an insult.^(DELI 1999) During the Second World War the Italian navy gave the name to its manned torpedo, from its squat shape, a sense recorded in 1947.^(DEI|2320)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 855 – Medieval Latin ''magialis'' is recorded at Farfa.^(DEI|2320)

+ * 13th century – Matazone da Caligano writes ''mazale''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * c. 1338 – A statute of Messina has ''maiale''.^(TLIO)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi explains the name of the castrated boar.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1827 – Foscolo uses it of a dirty, coarse person.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1858 – Guadagnoli uses it for pork.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1883 – Verga uses it of a person of filthy morals.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1947 – ''Maiale'' is recorded for the navy's manned torpedo.^(DEI|2320)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|pig]], hog: the domestic animal of the family Suidae, with a stout bristly body and a snout, raised for its meat: ''Il nonno allevava due maiali dietro la stalla.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # [[m|en|pork]]: the meat of the pig: ''arrosto di maiale''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative, colloquial)'' A dirty or coarse person; a greedy or very fat person: ''mangiare come un maiale''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A person of repellent or lewd behaviour.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(nautical, history)'' The manned torpedo used by the Italian navy in the Second World War to attack ships in harbour.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[maiala]]

+ * [[maialata]]

+ * [[maialatura]]

+ * [[maialeria]]

+ * [[maialesco]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[porco]]

+ * [[maggio]]

+ * [[la|maialis]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ The feminine ''maiala'' is uncommon and is used above all as an insult.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}