coppia

Forms

coppia f (plural coppie)^[1] Old spellings include Old Italian chopia, Old Italian choppia and Old Italian cobia.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cōpula (“a band, a leash”), inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōpla, with the middle vowel lost.^[3][4][1][5] The short form is attested in Latin as the accusative coplam in a papyrus.^[6] The Latin noun is contracted from *coapula, from com- (“together”), apiō (“to fasten”) and the suffix -ula.^[1][6] Nocentini explains it as the leash used to lead animals in pairs.^[4] The Latin verb is compared with Sanskrit आप्नोति (āpnoti, “reaches, obtains”) and Hittite epmi (“I take”).^[4]

The same word is French couple, Occitan cobla and Catalan cobla, the last two meaning a stanza, that is a pair of verses.^[4][7] A variant Vulgar Latin *cloppa gave Venetian copa (“pair”) and Sardinian goba (“pair”), and in central and southern Italy forms meaning “twins”.^[7] Learned copula is a doublet borrowed from the same Latin word.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's Favolello, written in Florence in 1260–1266.^[2] DELI dates the sense “two things of the same kind taken together” to Giordano da Pisa (1303–1306), and the sense “a man and a woman joined by marriage or love” to the early 14th-century Italian Milione of Marco Polo.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used coppia as a unit in trade, for two animals or two pieces of the same thing, for cloth and hides, and for fruit, and loosely for “a certain number”.^[2] Boccaccio writes that there was “no such couple under the stars” as the marquis and his lady.^[8]

Technical senses came in the modern period: the couple of forces in physics in 1865, a pair of athletes in 1964, two cards of the same value in 1965 and a pair of mechanical parts in 1973.^[3] In engineering it also means torque.^[1][9] Recent phrases include coppia di fatto, an unmarried couple living together, and coppia aperta, recorded in 1984.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1260–1266 – Brunetto Latini uses coppia in the Favolello.^[2]
• 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for two things taken together.^[3]
• Early 14th century – The Italian Milione uses it for a man and a woman joined in marriage.^[3]
• 1865 – Tommaseo–Bellini record the couple of forces.^[3]
• 1964 – Battaglia records the sense “two athletes competing together”.^[3]
• 1984 – Coppia aperta is recorded in La Repubblica.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pair, two things, animals or people of the same kind taken together or acting together: una coppia di colombi, in coppia, a coppie, two by two.^[12][10][9]
2. A couple, two people joined by love or marriage: Sono una coppia molto affiatata.^[12][10][5]
3. (sports) Two athletes who compete together.^[10][5][13]
4. (card games) Two cards of the same value: una coppia di sette.^[12][10]
5. (mathematics) A set of two elements, coppia ordinata, an ordered pair.^[12][9]
6. (physics, mechanics) A couple of forces, and torque; also two mechanical parts in contact, such as a screw and nut.^{[10][9][13][1]}

Word family

• accoppiare
• accoppiamento
• accoppiata
• coppietta
• coppiola
• scoppiare

Related words

• copula
• French couple

Usage notes

Fare coppia fissa is said of two people who are always seen together.^[10][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
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 c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana