The pronominal verb raggomitolarsi is quite evocative as words go. The best word-for-word translation would be to wind oneself up like a ball of yarn but it actually means to curl up.
It derives from the noun gomitolo which is the word for a ball of wool or yarn.
Il gatto si raggomitolò accanto alla stufa.
The cat curled up beside the stove.
Being a regular -are verb, it is very easy to conjugate in the present tense:
(io) mi raggomitolo
I curl up
(tu) ti raggomitoli
you curl up – informal
(lui) si raggomitola
he curls up
(lei)si raggomitola
she curls up
(Lei)si raggomitola
you curl up – formal
(noi) ci raggomitoliamo
we curl up
(voi) vi raggomitolate
you curl up – plural
(loro) si raggomitolano
they curl up
Take away the pronoun, and you get the verb raggomitolare which means to wind (something) up into a ball.
Raggomitolare la lana è un lavoro lungo e faticoso.
Winding up wool into a ball is a long and tiring job.
A close synonym of this verb is rannicchiarsi.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
