dipanare

Forms

dipanare (first-person singular present dipàno, first-person singular past historic dipanài, past participle dipanàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old form is Old Italian depanare, and Old Italian dispanare is also recorded.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dēpānāre (“to wind thread off”), formed with the prefix dē- on Latin pānus (“thread wound on a bobbin”).^[2][4][1] The verb is not recorded in Latin, but its spread across Romance shows that it existed in Vulgar Latin.^[5] The same verb is Romanian depăna, Sardinian demanare, Old French devender, Occitan devanar, Catalan debanar, Spanish devanar and Portuguese dobar, with a rounded vowel only in Portuguese and central Italy.^[4][6][1][5] The LEI suggests that it was the Romans' own word, kept where the techniques brought by the Germanic invaders did not replace it, as they did with annaspare, from a Gothic word.^[5]

The Latin noun is probably borrowed from Ancient Greek πᾶνος (pânos), a Doric form, the equivalent of Attic πῆνος (pênos, “thread”).^[4][7][1] DELI and de Vaan treat the Greek source as likely rather than certain.^[2][7]

There are Medieval Latin devanare at Rimini in the 14th century and devanatorium (“reel”) at Modena in 1327.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is depanare in Francesco da Barberino, before 1348, who advises letting a girl wind wool because the work moves the whole body.^[2][3] The TLIO's first record is an Aretine Latin grammar of the middle of the 14th century, and Velluti's Florentine chronicle (1367–1370) speaks of women earning well dipanando lana.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to clear up, to disentangle” is in Poliziano before 1480.^[2] The form dipanare replaced depanare in literary use by the 16th century, in Firenzuola and Bandello.^[2][3] In silk working it came to mean taking the filaments off the cocoons, and Zingarelli lists an obsolete sense “to eat greedily”.^[10][11]

The tools have their own words: dipanatoio, the reel or swift, and dipanatura are recorded in 1803.^[2] In the dialects of the north and centre the verb lives on as Romagnol dvanè and Marchigian dopanà.^[8] The phrase dipanare la matassa means to get to the bottom of a tangled affair.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1319 – Medieval Latin debanamentum is used at the papal Curia.^[2]
• 1327 – Medieval Latin devanatorium “reel” is recorded at Modena.^[8]
• Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses depanare.^[2]
• 1367–1370 – Velluti uses dipanare of winding wool.^[9][5]
• Before 1480 – Poliziano has the sense “to clear up”.^[2]
• Before 1543 – Firenzuola uses the form dipanare.^[2]
• 1803 – Dipanatoio, dipanatura and dipanamento are recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wind the thread of a skein into a ball: dipanare il cotone.^{[10][12][13][11]}
2. In silk working, to free the filaments from the cocoons.^[10][11][14]
3. (figurative) To unravel, clear up or resolve a complicated matter: dipanare un mistero.^[10][12][15]
4. (pronominal, dipanarsi) Of thread, to unwind, and figuratively to unfold or develop: La trama si dipana lentamente.^[12][13][15]
5. (obsolete) To eat greedily.^[11]

Word family

• dipanatoio
• dipanatura
• dipanamento
• dipanino

Related words

• annaspare
• matassa
• gomitolo
• Latin panus
• Spanish devanar

Usage notes

Dipanare la matassa is a fixed phrase for solving an intricate situation.^[10][11][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1184
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1313
9. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli