troia Italian · revision 38926

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=inherited|attested=before 1292, Bono Giamboni}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈtrɔ.ja/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''troia''' ''f'' (plural troie)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|troja]], [[roa-oit|troya]] and [[roa-oit|trogia]].^(TLIO) Lucca and the Montale area have [[it|troglia]].^(DEI|3912)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-med|troia|t=sow]], first recorded in the 8th-century Kassel Glosses, where it translates the Germanic word for “sow”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The word is found in Italian and Gallo-Romance: [[fr|truie]], [[oc|trueia]] and [[ca|truja]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(DEI|3912) Its origin is disputed.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The traditional explanation, still held by the FEW and repeated by DELI, Sabatini–Coletti and Gabrielli, takes it from the name of the city of [[la|Trōia|t=Troy]]: Macrobius mentions a “Trojan pig”, a pig roasted and stuffed with other animals as the Trojan horse was stuffed with warriors, and this would have become “pig of Troy” and then simply “Troy”.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Nocentini 2010) Körting saw no reason to doubt it.^(Körting 1907) Rohlfs objected that Macrobius' phrase is an isolated joke, not the name of a real dish, and took the word for a popular expressive formation that reached the Italian dialects from France.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) Treccani suggests that it imitates the grunt of the pig.^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Nocentini proposes [[la-vul|*torca|t=nut of a screw, a winding]], from [[m|la|torqueō|t=to twist, to turn]], with the /r/ moved after the first consonant and the word coming through Gallo-Romance; the metaphor would be the reverse of the one that made French [[m|fr|écrou|t=nut of a screw]] out of [[la|scrōfa|t=breeding sow]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) He rejects both the Trojan dish and Coromines' derivation from a Gaulish word for “boar” akin to [[sga|torc]].^(Nocentini 2010) Its distribution, he notes, centres on France: in Italy it is western and northern, and reached Sicily with the Gallo-Italic settlers.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in Bono Giamboni's translation of Orosius, before 1292, in the sense “sow, female pig”, especially one kept for breeding.^(TLIO) DELI's first record is Crescenzi's agricultural treatise in its Italian translation of about 1350.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As an insult for a woman the word appears in Franco Sacchetti before 1400.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3912) The TLIO already lists both senses, the animal and the term of abuse.^(TLIO) A Sienese butchers' statute forbids killing a ''troia'' in the city or within two miles of it.^(GDLI)

+

+ In modern Italian the animal sense is popular and coarser than the synonym ''scrofa'', and is used mainly of the breeding sow.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The vulgar sense, “whore”, is now the usual one, and GRADIT adds a further figurative use for anyone ready to sell themselves for advantage.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The derivative ''troiaio'' “pigsty”, also a filthy place, is recorded from 1891.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Medieval Latin ''troia'' “sow” is recorded in the Kassel Glosses.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ''troia'' in his translation of Orosius.^(TLIO)

+ * About 1350 – The word appears in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it as an insult for a woman.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1891 – ''Troiaio'' is recorded in the sense “filthy place”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(popular)'' [[m|en|sow]], a female [[m|en|pig]], especially one kept for breeding.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(vulgar, figurative)'' [[m|en|whore]], [[m|en|slut]]; used as an insult.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(vulgar, figurative)'' A person ready to sell themselves for gain.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[troiaio]]

+ * [[troiata]]

+ * [[troietta]]

+ * [[troiona]]

+ * [[troione]]

+ * [[troiume]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[scrofa]]

+ * [[fr|truie]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate ''troia'' was a siege engine for hurling stones, recorded in Sercambi in the early 15th century; it comes from Old French ''truie'', “sow” and also a war machine.^(DEI|3912)^(GDLI) DEI also lists a dialect ''troia'' for a wooden tool that stirs the bottom of a press, named after the rooting pig.^(DEI|3912) The interjection ''porca troia'' is a common oath.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}