collare

Forms

collare m (plural collari)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian colare and Old Italian collaro.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin collāre (“collar for dogs or slaves”), the neuter of the adjective collāris (“of the neck”), formed on collum (“neck”).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Battisti and Alessio explain it as the adjective used with a noun for “iron” or “band” understood.^[3] Medieval Latin documents have the form ⟨colare⟩ at Torcello in 1290.^[4]

It is pan-Romance: Old French coller (modern French collier), Old Occitan colar, Catalan collar, Spanish collar, Portuguese colar, Sardinian collare and Romanian colări (“belt”).^[5][9][10] Outside Romance it was borrowed into Albanian kular.^[10] In the dialects of Bova and Otranto, the word for the collar of oxen, ⟨coddari⟩, came instead through Byzantine Greek.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Venetian letter of 1309.^[2] Its senses in Old Italian are a protective piece of armour round the neck, a neck ornament, the ring round a prisoner's neck and the band round a dog's neck.^[2] DELI dates the animal's collar to 1353, in Boccaccio, who also writes of feeling nella gola … un collare d'oro (“a golden collar on my throat”).^[4][11]

Semantic evolution

The sense “necklace” is recorded in the 14th century, and collare for a broad collar of a garment before 1543, in Firenzuola.^[4] In 1619 Paolo Sarpi uses it for the chain from which hangs the badge of an order of chivalry; the highest of these was the collare dell'Annunziata of the House of Savoy, founded by Amedeo VI in 1364.^[4][12] The priest's white collar gave the phrases mettersi il collare, to become a priest, and gettare il collare, to leave the priesthood;^[13][14][15] Manzoni writes of putting two fingers nel collare to adjust it.^[13][14][15]

The ring of fur or feathers round an animal's neck is recorded in Zingarelli in 1925, and it appears in many animal names (tortora dal collare, the collared dove).^[4][13] The diminutives are older: collaretto goes back to Medieval Latin collaretum (Bologna, 1288), and collarino named a moulding below the capital of a column about 1340.^[4] The compound radiocollare, a radio collar for tracking wild animals, dates from 1981.^[10]

Timeline

• 1290 – Medieval Latin colare is recorded at Torcello.^[4]
• 1309 – A Venetian letter has collare, the first Italian record.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses collare for a dog's collar.^[4]
• 14th century – A translation of Cicero uses it for a necklace.^[4]
• Before 1543 – Firenzuola uses it for a broad collar of a garment.^[4]
• 1619 – Paolo Sarpi uses it for the chain of an order of chivalry.^[4]
• 1925 – Zingarelli records the ring of fur or feathers on an animal's neck.^[4]
• 1981 – Radiocollare is first recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A collar: a band of leather or other material put round the neck of an animal, especially a dog, to attach a lead or chain, or as an ornament; also the collar of a draught horse's or ox's harness: Ho comprato al gatto un collare con un campanellino.^{[13][12][16][1]}
2. (religion) The stiff white collar worn by priests: mettersi il collare, to become a priest;^[13][12][14] gettare il collare, to leave the priesthood.^[13][12][14]
3. (heraldry) The chain from which hangs the badge of an order of chivalry, as in collare dell'Annunziata; by extension, a person who holds it.^[13][12][16]
4. (historical) A band of velvet or other fabric worn round the neck by ladies; a pleated ruff worn by men in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[13][16][17]
5. (historical) An iron ring put round the neck or ankles of slaves and prisoners.^[13][16][17]
6. (zoology) A ring of fur or feathers of a different colour round the neck of some animals.^[13][16][14]
7. (mechanics) A metal collar or ring on a transmission shaft.^[13][16][14]
8. (nautical) A ring of iron or rope.^[13][16][14]
9. A circular band round an object.^[13][14]

Word family

• collaretto
• collarino
• collaressa
• collarina
• collarone
• incollarato

Related words

• collo
• Latin collum
• French collier

Usage notes

Two verbs collare are spelled the same.^[13][1] One, now obsolete, meant “to torture with the rope (colla)”, as in Dino Compagni's fecionlo collare (“they had him given the strappado”), and also “to lower or raise with a rope” and, at sea, “to lower or hoist the sails”; it is recorded from the 13th century, in Rinaldo d'Aquino, and its origin is uncertain.^{[13][18][19][2][15]} The other, a technical verb of 1956, means “to treat with glue or adhesive” and is formed on colla “glue”.^[13][12][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1011
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 740
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 280
16. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
19. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
20. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 727