chiummu

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• ghiummu
• chiumbu (Calabria)

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