coprimento

Forms

coprimento m (plural coprimenti)^[1] Old Italian forms include coperimento, cohoperimento and covrimento.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian coprire + -mento.^[1][3][2][4] GRADIT compares Late Latin cooperimentum, and the DEI and the GDLI derive the Italian word directly from it.^[3][5][6] The Latin noun is formed from cooperiō (“to cover”) with the suffix -mentum.^[7][6]

Words of the same form are Catalan cobriment and Portuguese cobrimento,^[8] Old French covrement,^[5] and Logudorese koberimentu (“lid”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Roman Miracole de Roma from the middle of the 13th century, which tells of a statue of Cybele covered with a fine gilded copper covering (cohoperimento de rame).^[2] The sense is “something laid over or around a thing to adorn or protect it”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word also meant the covering of a roof or ceiling, a blanket or cloth against the cold, protection in a figurative sense, the act of covering, the hiding of the truth, and, of animals, mating.^[2][5] Domenico Cavalca, who died in 1342, writes of Adam and Eve covering their nakedness with fig leaves (per copriménto della loro nudità).^[6] Tommaseo also records a military use in a treatise on fortification.^[9]

The modern dictionaries mark it as uncommon.^[3][10][4]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – The Roman Miracole de Roma writes cohoperimento.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses coprimento for the covering of nakedness.^[3][6]
• 14th century – The DEI records the word for clothing and for the mating of animals.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (uncommon) The act of covering.^[3][4]
2. (uncommon) A covering, the thing used to cover something.^{[3][10][4][1]}
3. (archaic) The material or structure of the top of a building, its roof.^[10][2]

Related words

• coprire
• copertura
• Latin cooperiō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1098
6. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 755
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier