dipelare

Forms

dipelare (first-person singular present dipélo, first-person singular past historic dipelài, past participle dipelàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The LEI and Meyer-Lübke see it as inherited from Latin dēpilō (“to pluck out the hair”), continued in the popular words of Italy, while the learned depilare is the same Latin verb taken again in the 20th century.^[2][3] DEI and the TLIO also derive it from the Latin verb.^[4][5] GRADIT, Devoto–Oli, Zingarelli and Treccani instead treat it as formed from Italian di- + pelo, and Wiktionary gives both views.^{[6][7][8][9][1]}

The Latin verb also gave Romanian depăra and Aromanian dipirare (“to despair”), Old French depeler and Old Occitan depilar.^[2][3] The Latin verb belongs with pilus (“hair”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Tuscan depelare in the letters of Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, in the sense to remove hair.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb and the participle dipelato in the Commedia around 1313, in Tutto che nudo e dipelato vada (“although he goes naked and hairless”).^[2][11] In Old Italian it also meant to lose hair, to lose the barbs of a feather, and to pluck a bird.^[5] The Florentine translation of Crescenzi, about 1350, uses it for stripping the bark of a plant, and Old Calabrian dipilare meant to tear off.^[2]

Menzini, before 1704, uses it for skinning or scalding.^[2][12] The last record the LEI gives is from Settembrini in 1876, and modern dictionaries mark the word obsolete.^[2][6][9]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses depelare.^[2][5]
• About 1313 – Dante uses dipelare and dipelato.^[2]
• About 1350 – The Florentine Crescenzi translation uses it for removing bark.^[2]
• 1548 – Alunno records the reflexive dipelarsi.^[2]
• 1861 – Settembrini uses dipelatore.^[2]
• 1936 – The learned depilare is recorded in Viani.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To remove the hair from; to depilate.^[6][7][9]
2. (transitive, obsolete) To peel or skin.^[1][2]

Related words

• pelo
• depilare
• Latin dēpilō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1219
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1313
5. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET