corda

From Latin chorda (“cord”), from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”).

der

(music) string, cord (of a musical instrument)

(sports) string (of a tennis racquet, etc)


chitarra

Borrowed from Arabic قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra), from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára).


porta

From Latin porta, from the Proto-Indo-European root *per- (“to pass through”). Compare, for more, Galician, Portuguese, Italian, Corsican, and Neapolitan porta, Asturian and Spanish puerta.


judeu

From Latin iūdaeus (“Jew; Judaean”), from Ancient Greek Ἰουδαῖος (Ioudaîos), from Hebrew יהודי (Yehudi).
By surface analysis, Judìa + -eu.


judeu

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judeu (feminine singular judea, masculine and feminine plural judei)

judea (feminine singular)
judei (feminine masculine plural)


chiavi

→ Maltese: ċavi, ⇒ ċavu

From Latin clāvis, clāvem (“key”). Cognate with Italian chiave.

(equestrianism) metal ring the reins go through

(music) key (to select notes in wind instruments)


pezza

→ Maltese: biċċa

In full: pezza di la varva

patch (small piece of cloth sewed to a piece of clothing to cover a hole)


fauci

desctree

Sicilian: Fauci, La Fauci
English: Fauci, La Fauci
Italian: Fauci, La Fauci

Inherited from Latin falx, falcem. Compare Italian falce and French faux.


sferra

From Vulgar Latin *exferra. By surface analysis, sfirrari (“to unshoe (a horse)”) + -a. For clearer semantic evolution see Italian sferra, and compare Neapolitan sferra. Doublet of scerra.

surf

(farriery) broken old exhausted horseshoe after it is taken from the hoof of the horse


udu

From Latin ūdus (“wet”). Cognate with Aromanian ud, Dalmatian joit, Italian uggia, Romanian ud.

Sta' 'ttentu a l'acqua ca vuḍḍi ca putissi nèsciri u udu dâ pignata.

Be careful of the boiling water that "what's boiled" could come out of the pot.

(cooking) the cooking water while it is boiling


mastru

Vulgarization of majistru, from the accusative of Latin magister. The stressed syllable shift could be explained with the conflation with a cognate variant, like the Catalan mestre. Compare Corsican maestru, French maitre, Ligurian méistro, Italian maestro, Sardinian maistru, Spanish maese.


dragu

→ English: Rao, Rau

→ Italian: Rao, Rau

From Latin dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn). Compare Spanish drago, Portuguese drago. Compare the registry coexistence in Sicily of the surnames Rau (and Rao) and the italianized Drago; this latter is strictly Sicilian and differs from the Italian Draghi, which is instead typically recorded in the plural.


jelu

→ Italian: jelu, ielu (regional)

From Latin gelū (“frost, chill”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”). Cognate with Asturian xilu, Catalan gel, Occitan gèu, hielo, Portuguese gelo, Italian gelo, Leonese xielu.


ntiniri

head

ntiniri (feminine singular ntinira, masculine and feminine plural ntiniri)

ntinira (feminine singular)
ntiniri (feminine masculine plural)


chiummu

→ Maltese: ċomb

Inherited from Latin plumbum (“lead”). Compare Italian piombo and Neapolitan chiummo.

acchiummari

to plumb, to use a plumb bob as an aligning tool


scifu

Through Latin scyphus (“cup”), ultimately from Ancient Greek σκῠ́φος (skúphos). Compare Italian scifo and English scyphus.

(agriculture) small limestone feeder, often reserved for pigs.


caḍḍusu

caḍḍusu (feminine singular caḍḍusa, masculine and feminine plural caḍḍusi)

caḍḍusa (feminine singular)
caḍḍusi (feminine masculine plural)

From Latin callōsus, from callus (“solid, tough, hard, thick”).

Sta pasta 'i casa beḍḍa caḍḍusa è.

(food) Of food that has a hard and tender consistency at the same time, almost cartilaginous; doughy


cugnu

→ Italian: cugno, Cugno

From Latin cuneus. Compare Galician cuño, Portuguese cunho and cunha, Spanish cuño and cuña, Italian cuneo and conio.

Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.

(music) A hairpin, an elongated horizontal V-shaped sign indicating a crescendo or decrescendo.


guastedda

guasteḍḍa (canonical feminine)
guasteḍḍi (plural)

From Old Northern French wastel, equivalent of Old French gastel, whence modern French gâteau.

(cooking) a traditional Sicilian bread cake filled with spleen and ricotta


Ilìa

Sicilian: Lìa

Italian: Lia

Borrowed from Latin Ēliās, from Ancient Greek Ἠλίας (Ēlías), from Hebrew אֵלִיָּה (ēliyā́, “Jah is my God”).

der

(religion) An Israelite prophet in the Abrahamic religions.


Lìa

→ Italian: Lia

→ Italian: Elia, Lea (italianized variant)

Sicilian: Liuzzu, Luzzu

Italian: Liuzzo

Apocoped variant of Ilìa, from Latin Ēliās, from Ancient Greek Ἠλίας (Ēlías), from Hebrew אֵלִיָּה (ēliyā́, “Jah is my God”).

(religion) Elijah, an Israelite prophet in the Abrahamic religions.


valanza

From a Vulgar Latin variant of Latin bilanx. Compare Italian bilancia.


paparina

Contraction of *papavarina, inherited from Latin papāver (“poppy”) + -ina. Compare Greek παπαρούνα (paparoúna).

(hunting, uncountable) Synonym of chiummu (“birdshots”)


càmmiciu

(hairdressing) cloth used by barbers to cover the customer


a la cundannè

Borrowed from French à la condamné (literally “like a condemned person”).


anìmulu

From Koine Greek ἀνέμη (anémē, “weasel”) + -ulu.

af

jiri comu n'anìmulu

[…] e la testa cci gira, comu animulu.

1785 – 1787, Giovanni Meli, Don Chisciotti e Sanciu Panza 7.29

[…] and his head was spinning like a swift.

(spinning) swift (wooden tool spun to stretch a skein of yarn)


sfirrari

sfirratu (participle past)
sfirrari (infinitive)
sfirrannu (gerund)
sfirratu (participle past)
sferru (first-person indicative present singular)
sferri (indicative present second-person singular)
sferra (indicative present singular third-person)
sfirramu (first-person indicative plural present)
sfirrati (indicative plural present second-person)
sfèrranu (indicative plural present third-person)
sfèrrunu (indicative plural present third-person)
sfirrava (first-person imperfect indicative singular)
sfirravu (first-person imperfect indicative singular)
sfirravi (imperfect indicative second-person singular)
sfirrava (imperfect indicative singular third-person)
sfirràvamu (first-person imperfect indicative plural)
sfirràvavu (imperfect indicative plural second-person)
sfirràvanu (imperfect indicative plural third-person)
sfirràvunu (imperfect indicative plural third-person)
sfirrai (first-person indicative preterite singular)
sfirrasti (indicative preterite second-person singular)
sfirrau (indicative preterite singular third-person)
sfirrò (indicative preterite singular third-person)
sfirrammu (first-person indicative plural preterite)
sfirramu (first-person indicative plural preterite)
sfirràstivu (indicative plural preterite second-person)
sfirràrunu (indicative plural preterite third-person)
sfirraru (indicative plural preterite third-person)
sfirrirò (first-person future indicative singular)
sfirrirogghiu (first-person future indicative singular)
sfirrirai (future indicative second-person singular)
sfirrirà (future indicative singular third-person)
sfirriremu (first-person future indicative plural)
sfirrireti (future indicative plural second-person)
sfirririti (future indicative plural second-person)
sfirrirannu (future indicative plural third-person)
sfirrirìa (conditional first-person present singular)
sfirririssi (conditional present second-person singular)
sfirrirìa (conditional present singular third-person)
sfirrirìamu (conditional first-person plural present)
sfirrirìavu (conditional plural present second-person)
sfirrirìanu (conditional plural present third-person)
sferru (first-person present singular subjunctive)
sferri (present second-person singular subjunctive)
sferra (present singular subjunctive third-person)
sfirramu (first-person plural present subjunctive)
sfirrati (plural present second-person subjunctive)
sfèrranu (plural present subjunctive third-person)
sfèrrunu (plural present subjunctive third-person)
sfirrassi (first-person imperfect singular subjunctive)
sfirrassi (imperfect second-person singular subjunctive)
sfirrassi (imperfect singular subjunctive third-person)
sfirràssimu (first-person imperfect plural subjunctive)
sfirràssivu (imperfect plural second-person subjunctive)
sfirràssiru (imperfect plural subjunctive third-person)
sferra (imperative second-person singular)
sfirrassi (imperative singular third-person)
sfirramu (first-person imperative plural)
sfirrati (imperative plural second-person)

From Vulgar Latin *exferrō, *exferrāre. Compare Italian sferrare. By surface analysis, s- + ferru + -ari. Compare Italian perdere le staffe. Cfr. also firrijari~furrijari.

E sachi ki quantu plui si ferra lu cavallu iuvini tantu plui li soi unghi diventanu debili e molli, kí lu usu di andari sferatu genera da la sua iuvintuti li soi unghi duri e grandi.

a. 1368, De Cruyllis–Spatafora, “Di la guardia et di la doctrina di lu cavallu”, in Libru di la Mascalchia […], translation of De Medicina equorum by Giordano Ruffo, page 11v:

And know that the younger the horse is shoed the more his hooves become weak and soft, because the practice of going unshoed yields big and strong hooves from his youth.

(transitive, farriery) to unshoe (a horse)


lavuri

From Latin labor (“work, labor”). Compare Italian lavoro.

(agriculture) harvest, reaping, wheat, corn, crop


àriu

From the metathesis of an earlier àiru, from Latin āerem, accusative of āēr, from Ancient Greek ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”). Doublet of ària.

L'àriu [di] Marcu. ― Marco's farmyard.

(agriculture) farmyard; any large rural area of private property.


scornu

Compare Corsican scornu (“corner”), Old French corn (“corner”).

In full: scornu di la tàvula

(woodworking) each of the two round most external sections of a trunk when cut longitudinally, from which tables are often made


maggiuri

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maggiuri (feminine singular maggiuri, masculine and feminine plural maggiuri)

maggiuri (feminine singular)
maggiuri (feminine masculine plural)

From Latin maior. Compare Italian maggiore.


baḍḍa

→ Italian: badda (regional)

Possibly from Medieval Latin balla, ultimately from Frankish *ballu, from Proto-Germanic *balluz.

palla

desonorized, dialectal Italianate variants

(sports) ball (object used for playing games)


vuḍḍu

Possibly from an unattested Vulgar Latin *bullum, kind of masculinization of Latin bulla (“bubble”). Doublet of vugghiu.


coppu

→ Italian: coppino (regional)

Possibly from the masculinization of cuppa (“drinking vessel”) or from its doublet coppa. Cognate with Portuguese copo (“glass, vessel”).

(food) a cone, often made of paper, to contain fried fish.