ciàula

Sicilian
na ciàula (sense 1.1) — a crow

Etymology

Unknown. Compare Neapolitan ciàula, Tarantino ciola, Friulian çore. Compare also Romanian cioară, Albanian sorrë.

Pasqualino suggests cià, onomatopoeia imitating the bird's sound, +‎ -ula (diminutive suffix), and compares it to the similarly formed Latin grāculus (“jackdaw”).[1]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ciàula f (plural ciàuli)

  1. Various black cawing birds:
    1. crow (Corvus corone)
    2. magpie (Pica pica)
      Synonym: carcarazza
    3. jackdaw (Coloeus monedula)
  2. (figuratively) chatterbox (talkative person)

Descendants
  • → Maltese: ċawl

References
  1. Pasqualino (c. 1790) “ciaula”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 1, page 315
  • Traina, Antonino (1868) “ciàula”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, page 845
  • Accademia della Crusca (p. 1961), “ciàula”, in Grande dizionario della lingua italiana (in Italian), volume 3, page 115
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