chiummu

Sicilian

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Noun

chiummu m (plural chiummi)

  1. (uncountable) lead (metal)
    caminari cu li pedi di chiummu ― to proceed with caution (literally, “to walk with lead feet”)
  2. (construction, countable) plumb bob
    fari li cosi cu lu chiummu e lu cumpassu ― to do things with the utmost care (literally, “to do things with the plumb bob and compass”)
  3. (hunting, uncountable) birdshots
    Synonym: paparina

Derived terms
  • a chiummu
  • acchiummari (“to plumb, to use a plumb bob as an aligning tool”, verb)
  • botta di chiummu

Descendants
  • → Maltese: ċomb

References
  • AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 408: “come il piombo” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
  • Traina, Antonino (1868) “chiummu”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, page 833
  • Pasqualino (c. 1790) “chiummu”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 1, page 311
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