lumache

noun

lu·​ma·​che lü-ˈmä-ˌkā 

: pasta shaped like a snail's shell

Silky lumache, a snail-shaped pasta that originated in the Piedmont region of Italy, soaked up a smooth vodka sauce.

—Rekaya Gibson

… go with a pasta such as the lumache with Italian sausage …

—Keith Pandolfi

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Italian, plural of lumaca "snail, slug," going back to Vulgar Latin *līmāca, re-formation of Latin līmāc-, līmāx "snail, slug," going back to dialectal Indo-European *(s)lei̯m-āk, whence also Czech slimák "snail," Polish ślimak, regional Russian slimák, genitive slimaká

Note: The change of vowel in the Italian word is unexplained. The base *slei̯m- is most directly comparable to Latin līmus "mud, mire, slime" and Old English slīm —see slime entry 1, lime entry 1.

First Known Use

1967, in the meaning defined above