carpine

Forms

carpine m (plural carpini)^[1] The variant carpino is the older form and the headword in GRADIT and Zingarelli.^[2][3][4] The LEI records dialect forms such as Ligurian carpu and Piedmontese càrpin, and old Paduan carpene from the late 14th century.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carpinus (“hornbeam”), a word continued across the Romance languages.^[2][6][3][1] The same word is French charme, Occitan carpre, Spanish carpe, Portuguese carpe and Romanian carpin.^[6][7]

DELI suggests that the form ending in ⟨-e⟩ was perhaps wrongly rebuilt from the plural ⟨carpini⟩, unless it continues a spoken Latin *cărpine(m);^[2] the DEI and Sabatini–Coletti point to a declension *carpen, which some central and northern dialect forms require too.^[8][9]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear: de Vaan compares Lithuanian skir̃pstas (“elm”), Old Prussian skerptus (“elm”) and perhaps Hittite karpina- (“a kind of fruit tree”), and suggests a root meaning “to cut”, after the trees' serrated leaves, so that the word could come from Latin carpō.^[10] Nocentini finds the comparisons vague, as with most smaller trees.^[6] The DEI and the GDLI think it perhaps a Mediterranean word, comparing Ancient Greek κάρφινος (kárphinos, “of hornbeam”);^[8][11] Alessio, cited in the LEI, took Pliny's statement that the tree came from beyond the Po to mean that the word was not native to Latin.^[5] Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *kh₂er- (“hard”) as a probable source.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is carpino in the Italian Palladio of about 1340, which calls the hornbeam utilissimo, most useful.^[2][12][11] The form carpine appears in 1554 in Pietro Cataneo.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Latin carpinus, found from Cato on, named the common hornbeam and its hard, compact wood, prized for carpentry and as fuel; with atra it named the hop hornbeam, whose names are confused with those of the hornbeam almost everywhere.^[5] The Old Italian sources likewise name it for the wood used for tools and cart wheels.^[12][11] Cataneo describes the wood of the carpine as not brittle but sinewy, and Tommaseo notes that the tree, which sends up shoots from the roots, was used for espaliers and covered walks in gardens.^[13]

The tree is rare in southern Italy and absent from the islands, as the many place names formed from the word show.^[5]

Timeline

• About 1340 – The Italian Palladio uses carpino.^[2][12][3]
• Late 14th century – Paduan carpene is recorded.^[5]
• 1499 – Francesco Colonna uses carpino.^[5]
• 1554 – Pietro Cataneo uses carpine.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), a tree of the birch family with smooth grey bark and oval, toothed leaves, whose hard white wood is used for farm tools and machine parts.^{[14][9][15][3]}
2. Any tree of the genus Carpinus;^[1][3][5] carpino nero is the hop hornbeam.^[1][3][5]

Word family

• carpinella
• carpineta
• carpineto

Related words

• Latin carpinus
• French charme

Usage notes

GRADIT and Zingarelli treat carpine as a variant of carpino.^[3][4] In 1560 carpine is also recorded as a plural for carp, the fish, which the LEI files under carpa.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 12, 351
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 778
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 12, 316