cerato

Forms

cerato (feminine cerata, masculine plural cerati, feminine plural cerate)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin cērātus (“coated with wax”), the participle of cērāre, from cēra (“wax”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The modern dictionaries treat it as the participle of cerare, which is recorded only from 1853.^[7][8][2]

The LEI notes that the Latin adjective continued in Old French ciré (13th century) but in Italy only as a learned word.^[9] Elsewhere in Romance the Latin verb was replaced by incērāre.^[9] The sense of the glossy fabric matches French ciré, whose Italian form ciré is a modern borrowing from French.^[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the 14th-century Italian translation of Livy, with the sense “coated with wax”, in tavole cerate, wax tablets read out in public.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Bembo wrote of wrapping his writings in thick paper and then in a tela cerata, a waxed cloth, and DELI dates the noun sense “fabric treated with waxy substances” to before 1547 in Bembo.^[10][2] The LEI records a noun cerato from 1452.^[9] Poets used it for things made of or joined with wax: Tasso has Icarus's “waxen feathers” (cerate piume) and Marino the “waxed pipe” of several reeds.^[11]

D'Annunzio used tavolette cerate for the wax tablets on which the Romans wrote with a stylus (1912).^[9] In modern Italian tela cerata and carta cerata are oilcloth and waxed paper, and as a noun cerato is a stiff fabric with one very glossy face, also called by the French name ciré.^{[5][7][4][12]}

Timeline

• 14th century – The Italian translation of Livy uses cerato “coated with wax”.^[2]
• 1452 – A noun cerato is recorded.^[9]
• Before 1547 – Bembo uses it for cloth treated with waxy substances.^[2]
• 1853 – The verb cerare is first recorded.^[2]
• 1912 – D'Annunzio writes of tavolette cerate.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Coated or impregnated with wax: tavolette cerate, the wax tablets the Romans wrote on.^[7][4][8][5]
2. Made waterproof with a coat of rubber and varnish or of waxy substances: tela cerata “oilcloth”, carta cerata “waxed paper”.^[7][4][8][5]

Noun

1. (textiles) A rather stiff fabric with one very glossy face, also called ciré.^{[12][4][13][5]}

Word family

• cerata
• incerato

Related words

• cerare
• cera
• cerotto
• ciré

Usage notes

Cerato is also a separate pharmaceutical noun, recorded from 1892: a soft, greasy excipient for medicines made of oil, wax and spermaceti.^[7][4][5] It is a learned borrowing from Late Latin cērātum, a plaster of wax and other substances, and is related to cerotto.^{[7][4][11][5]} Tommaseo already described it as a mixture of white wax, almond oil and rose water, citing Latin ceratum in Celsus.^[10] A zoological cerato (20th century), pronounced /ˈtʃɛrato/, names a cutaneous outgrowth with a respiratory function on each side of the back of some sea slugs.^[7][14] It comes through scientific Latin cerata from Greek kéras “horn”.^[7][14]

References

1. ^ 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. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 1048
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana