discingere

Forms

discingere (first-person singular present discìngo, first-person singular past historic discìnsi, past participle discìnto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The archaic form is discignere.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word: borrowed from Latin discingō (“to remove the belt”), formed in Latin with dis- and cingō (“to gird”).^[5][6][7][8] The past participle discinto continues discinctus.^[5][9] The Latin verb is attested from Plautus; in military contexts it also carried the idea of disarming.^[10][8]

The LEI notes that the Latin verb lived on in Old French deceindre, recorded about 1185, in Old Occitan descenher and in Italian, where forms with stressed /i/ spread from Tuscany beside forms with /e/.^[11] Romanian descinge and Spanish desceñir are among its descendants.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Laude di Cortona, from the second half of the 13th century.^[12] DELI's first dated use is in Arrigo Simintendi's translation of Ovid, before 1333, with the sense “to take off what girds the waist”: the Fury Tisiphone unties the serpent she had girded on (Discingesi lo serpente ch'ell'avea cinto).^[5][13]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for taking a belt or sword from the side, and also, figuratively, for routing an enemy.^[12] The reflexive discingersi meant to loosen one's clothes or to free oneself from a hold, and Marino and later writers use it for baring part of the body.^[11][4]

The word has stayed literary;^[7][2][4] Leopardi's line Chi ti discinse il brando? “Who ungirded your sword?” is the dictionaries' standard example.^[7][2][4] The participle discinto “half-dressed, loosely clothed” is more common than the verb and is recorded earlier, before 1292 in Bono Giamboni.^[5][4]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – The participle discinto appears in Bono Giamboni.^[5]
• Second half of the 13th century – First record of the verb, in the Laude di Cortona.^[12]
• Before 1333 – Arrigo Simintendi uses discingersi.^[5][11]
• 1623 – Marino uses discingersi of baring the body.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, literary) To unfasten or take off what is girded round the waist, such as a belt or a sword: Il cavaliere discinse la spada e la appese al muro..^{[7][2][14][4]}
2. (transitive, literary, rare) To free from what binds or girds; to strip.^[7][14]
3. (reflexive, archaic) discingersi: to loosen or open one's clothes.^[14][4][15]

Word family

• discinto

Related words

• cingere
• Latin discingō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1328
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. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 600
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli