dispiegare

Forms

dispiegare (first-person singular present dispiègo or dispiégo, first-person singular past historic dispiegài, past participle dispiegàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian forms include northern despiegare and displegare.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian dis- + spiegare: DELI, Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli take it as a derivative of that verb with the prefix.^[3][4][5][6] Devoto, Sabatini–Coletti and the Treccani see a change of prefix, the stronger prefix taking the place of the ⟨s-⟩ of the simple verb, and the GDLI says the prefix was felt as more intensive.^{[7][8][9][10]}

DEI and the TLIO instead derive the word from Late Latin displicō (“to unfold”), recorded in Gregory the Great.^[11][2] Wiktionary calls the change of prefix probable and the Late Latin source possible.^[1] The GDLI and the Treccani only compare the Late Latin verb.^[10][9] Meyer-Lübke traced the simple verb itself, with French déployer and Catalan desplegar, to that verb.^[12] DEI compares the French verb and Spanish desplegar.^[11]

Spiegare goes back to Latin explicō (“to unfold”), from plicō (“to fold”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's earliest record is the Bolognese Serventese Lambertazzi, from the last twenty years of the 13th century, and its first sense is spreading out something folded or rolled up.^[2] DELI dates the word to Dante, before 1321, with the senses “to spread out, unfold” and “to make manifest”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used it figuratively: setting free, putting on open show, aiming a weapon, developing something, and making a thing known in words.^[2] In the Paradiso the divine goodness “unfolds the eternal beauties” (dispiega le bellezze etterne), and in the Purgatorio Dante uses the pronominal form of water that springs from one source and divides.^[5][13]

Later writers use it of spreading out a letter or a tablecloth, as in Tasso, Goldoni and Carducci.^[10] In modern Italian the plain verb is literary: it is said of sails, wings and flags spread to the wind, and in military language of deploying an army.^[14][5][9] The pronominal dispiegarsi is said of a landscape stretching out before the eye and of something that unfolds or develops, such as a melody or a long sentence.^[6][8][9]

Timeline

• 1280–1300 – The Bolognese Serventese Lambertazzi has the earliest record.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to unfold” and “to make manifest”.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To unfold, spread out or stretch something to its full length or width: La bandiera fu dispiegata sopra il municipio.^{[5][6][14][15]}
2. (military) To deploy troops.^[5][14][1]
3. (figurative, literary, uncommon) To make known, manifest or display.^{[5][15][16][14]}
4. (pronominal) Dispiegarsi: to stretch out as far as the eye can see; to unfold, develop: Il sentiero si dispiegava lungo tutta la costa.^{[6][8][9][14]}
5. (archaic, pronominal) Dispiegarsi: to gush forth, of water.^[8][14][13]

Word family

• dispiegamento
• ridispiegare

Related words

• spiegare
• piegare
• Latin explicō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 147
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 738
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1349
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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