erpice

Forms

erpice m (plural erpici)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian erpece and Old Italian erpexe.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin hirpex (“harrow”).^[3][4][5][1] The ⟨e⟩ comes from the Late Latin form herpex, found in the Salic Law, and Meyer-Lübke also starts from it.^[6][7][8] The same Latin word gave French herse, Old French herce and Gardenese ärpes.^[4][8][9]

The Latin word is derived from Oscan hirpus (“wolf”), an Italic name of the wolf, whose teeth were compared to the teeth of the harrow.^{[3][4][5][10]} DELI and Nocentini call the word Oscan or Samnite, GRADIT and Wiktionary Sabine.^[3][4][5][1] Paulus' epitome of Festus records it to explain the Samnite people of the Hirpini, named after an ancestor called Wolf, and the name lives on in Irpinia.^[4] Nocentini adds that the wolf's name corresponds to Latin hircus (“he-goat”), a taboo name that replaced the real name of the wolf with that of a farm animal.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first Italian record is the Venetian Rainaldo e Lesengrino of the late 13th century, for the frame with teeth drawn over the ground to break up clods.^[2] The word appears earlier in two Latin charters of western Tuscany from the second half of the 12th century, and Sabatini–Coletti has the form irpice in the 9th century.^[2][11] DELI dates it to the Italian Crescenzi, around 1350, and Nocentini and GRADIT before 1320.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The Italian Crescenzi already uses the verb erpicare, to harrow, and inerpicarsi, to clamber up, was formed from it in the 16th century.^[3][4] The harrow was first of wood or iron and drawn by animals, and the 19th century named many kinds by shape.^[12] Modern dictionaries describe a machine drawn by tractors, with teeth, blades or discs, as the erpice rotante or frangizolle.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 800s – Sabatini–Coletti's date for the form irpice.^[11]
• 1150–1200 – Latin charters of western Tuscany use the word.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The Venetian Rainaldo e Lesengrino has the first Italian record.^[2]
• Before 1320 – Nocentini's and GRADIT's date.^[4][5]
• c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses erpice and erpicare.^[3]
• 1500s – Inerpicarsi is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (agriculture) A harrow: a farm implement with teeth, blades or rotating discs, drawn by animals or a tractor, that breaks up the clods after ploughing.^{[5][10][13][11]}

Word family

• erpicare
• erpicatura
• inerpicarsi

Related words

• Latin hirpex
• French herse

Usage notes

Both érpice and èrpice are said.^[4][7] Treccani takes the open vowel from the Late Latin herpex.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1525
7. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana