embrice

Forms

embrice m (plural embrici)^[1] An older form is imbrice.^[2] The plural was also written Old Italian enbrici.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin imbrex (“a curved tile that catches rainwater”), from imber (“rain”).^[4][5][6][1] Isidore of Seville already explained the tile's name by the rain it receives.^[7]

The Latin word lives on in southern dialects especially.^[8] Meyer-Lübke gives Neapolitan ermece.^[9][10] From the diminutive imbriculus comes Medieval Latin lambrechia, a wooden shingle (Ferrara, 1401).^[8] Körting reports Gröber's derivation of Old French lambre from the same word, but prefers ambrices, the laths between rafters and tiles.^[10]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *nbʰro- (“cloudy”), and is related to Ancient Greek ἀφρός (aphrós, “foam”), though the meaning makes the Greek word less certain.^[11] The Latin ⟨-ex⟩ is irregular for ⟨-ix⟩ and probably analogical, as in apex and fornex.^[11] The word for rain itself survives only in Logudorese imbre “water, spray”; elsewhere pluvia replaced it.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and GRADIT date the word before 1320.^[5][6] DELI's first record is the Italian translation of Crescenzi (about 1350), which recommends a narrow place coperto d'embrici (roofed with flat tiles); the TLIO's is a Florentine document of 1348–1350.^[4][3][12] The sense was a flat terracotta slab with raised edges, laid as the first layer of a roof under the curved tiles.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Old builders distinguished the embrice, broad and flat with raised sides, from the curved tegolo laid over its joints.^[13][12] A popular tale told of a god who rained gold on a woman's roof and slipped tra embrice e embrice into her bed.^[13] Later the name passed to the interlocking Marseille tile (embrice alla marsigliese).^[14][12]

In shipbuilding embrice is each of the heavy cables that hold the cradle against the hull during a launch.^[6][14][15] In entomology it names the plates of chitin on an insect's abdomen.^[6] The adjective embriciato “tiled” appears before 1730 in Vallisnieri, and embricato “overlapping like roof tiles” from 1943 in Gadda.^[4]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – First record.^[5][6]
• 1348–1350 – A Florentine document mentions embrici.^[3]
• About 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses the word.^[4]
• 1401 – Medieval Latin lambrechia “wooden shingle” is recorded at Ferrara.^[8]
• 1600s – Embricare appears.^[5]
• Before 1730 – Vallisnieri uses embriciato and embricato.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (building) A flat roof tile: a terracotta slab, often trapezoidal with raised side edges, laid as the first covering of a roof: Il vento ha spostato due embrici sopra la cucina.^{[6][14][15][2]}
2. (nautical) Each of the heavy cables that bind the cradle to the hull of a ship being launched.^{[6][14][15][16]}
3. (entomology) A plate of chitin covering the abdomen of an insect.^[6]

Word family

• embricato
• embricare
• embriciato

Related words

• tegola
• Latin imbrex
• Latin imber

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1459
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)