dipinto

Forms

dipinto m (plural dipinti); as an adjective, feminine dipinta, plural dipinti, dipinte^[1] Old forms include Old Italian depinto, Old Italian dipento and the northern Old Italian depenta.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Italian dipingere (“to paint”): its past participle, used as an adjective from the 13th century and as a noun from the early 14th.^[4][5][6] The verb is learned: it is from Latin dēpingō (“to paint, depict”), formed from Latin dē- and pingō (“to paint”).^[4][5]

The Latin participle was dēpictus.^[7] The Italian form, perhaps through Vulgar Latin *dēpinctus, took the nasal of the present stem, as the perfect had already done.^[7][1] The same Latin verb gave French dépeindre, remade after peindre.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Lombard poet Pietro da Bescapè in 1274, with the sense of a surface decorated with figures and colours.^[2] DELI dates the adjective to Malispini in the 13th century and the noun, “a work of painting”, to Dante.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the adjective of the face and body as well: painted with make-up, and figuratively changed in colour by an emotion.^[2][4] In love poetry the beloved's face was dipinto in the lover's heart.^[2] Fra Giordano's sermons say that a painted image shows a thing better than a footprint does.^[3]

Tommaseo distinguished dipinto, the work of art itself, from pittura, which also means the art and the work as something to be paid for or sold.^[8] Fixed phrases are parere or sembrare dipinto, of something so beautiful it seems unreal, and neanche dipinto, “not on any account”, which strengthens a negation.^[9][6][10]

Timeline

• 1274 – Pietro da Bescapè has the first record.^[2]
• 13th century – Malispini uses the adjective for something coloured or portrayed.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a made-up face and as a noun for a painting.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A painting: a picture made with paint on a surface: Nella sala principale del museo è esposto un dipinto del Seicento.^{[6][11][12][1]}

Adjective

1. Painted: decorated with coloured figures or covered with paint.^[9][6][11]
2. Shown in a painting: Il paesaggio dipinto nel quadro è la campagna toscana.^[9][11][13]
3. Made up, wearing make-up: labbra dipinte.^[6][11][10]
4. In phrases: parere (or sembrare) dipinto, to look too perfect to be real;^[9][6][13] neanche (or nemmeno, neppure) dipinto, not at all, as an emphatic negation.^[9][6][13]

Word family

• dipintamente

Related words

• dipingere
• pittura
• pingere
• Latin dēpingō

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 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 d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1314
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana