filare

filare¹ row of trees or vines

Etymology tree of filare¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin fīlum

French fil

Italian filo

Italian fila

Italian filare

Spanish hilo

From the same root · filare¹

Latin fīlāmentum ← fīlum

Latin fīlō ← fīlum

Spanish hilar ← hilo

Pronunciation

• /fiˈla.re/^[1]

Forms

filare m (plural filari)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a row of trees or vines is formed from Italian fila (“row, line”) + -are in Italian.^[2][3][4][5] GRADIT gives the suffix as the adjectival ⟨-are⟩.^[4] The base noun comes from filo “thread”, probably through the old plural ⟨le fila⟩, and that from Latin fīlum (“thread”).^[2] Wiktionary instead takes the noun from Late Latin fīlāris.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1286–1290.^[5] DELI dates the sense “row, chiefly of plants” to Giordano da Pisa, before 1311.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Italian translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi's treatise on agriculture speaks of the “ranks, that is rows, of trees” (le schiere ovvero filari degli arbori).^[6][7] Tommaseo noted that the word was used only of trees and of lifeless things, but his examples include a row of houses and, in Luigi Pulci, beasts with three rows of teeth.^[7] Manzoni describes the traces of ruined filari in an abandoned vineyard, and Carducci the cypresses that go from San Guido to Bolgheri in duplice filar “in a double row”.^[6][8]

Technical senses followed: a course of bricks in a wall, the side pieces of the frame of a ship's hatch, and in crystallography a row of points repeated at equal intervals.^[8][9] Gabrielli records a rare sense “line of writing”.^[10]

Timeline

• 1286 – The noun is recorded in a Florentine document.^[5]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses filare for a row of plants.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A row of trees or plants, especially of vines: un filare di cipressi lungo il viale.^[4][9][8]
2. (building) A course of bricks or other elements laid in one line in a wall.^[4][9][8]
3. (crystallography) A row of points of a crystal lattice repeated along one direction at equal intervals.^[4][9][8]
4. (shipbuilding) Each of the two side pieces of the frame of a hatch.^[4][8]
5. (chess) A file, a column of the board.^[4]

Word family

• filaretto

filare² to spin

Etymology tree of filare²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin fīlum

French fil

Italian filo

Spanish hilo

Latin fīlō

French filer

Italian filare

Spanish hilar

From the same root · filare²

Latin fīlāmentum ← fīlum

Italian fila ← filo

Pronunciation

• /fiˈla.re/^[1]

Forms

filare (first-person singular present fìlo, first-person singular past historic filài, past participle filàto, auxiliary (transitive, also intransitive in some meanings) avére or (intransitive in other meanings) èssere)^[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning “to spin” is inherited from Late Latin fīlāre (“to spin, to draw out into threads”), formed from Latin fīlum (“thread”).^[2][3][4][1] The same verb is French filer, Spanish hilar, Portuguese fiar, Sardinian filare and Romansh filer.^[11] Battisti and Alessio suspected that the sense “to trickle in a thin stream”, recorded from the 16th century, came from the French verb.^[12]

DELI splits the Italian senses between two verbs: the transitive ones that go back to the idea of a thread (“reduce to thread”, “let run out in a thread”) continue the Latin verb, while intransitive senses such as “to move in file”, “to go off” and “to hold together (of an argument)” form a verb derived from fila “row”.^[2] Sabatini–Coletti also derives the sense “to go fast” from the image of a stretched thread, and the Roman ⟨filare⟩ “to take notice of someone” from the verb “to spin”.^[13] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo- (“sinew, sinew thread”).^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, of the early 13th century, with the sense “to turn raw fibre into thread”.^[5] DELI's first date is Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), which mocks people who would reason about faith “while spinning and hoeing” (filando e zappando).^[2][15]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for producing anything as if by spinning, and for letting a liquid run out in a thin stream.^[5] The proverbial phrases filare grosso and filare sottile contrasted cunning with naivety.^[5] Boccaccio has the sense “let run, pour slowly” (1340–1342), Frizzi the spinning of spiders and silkworms (before 1416), and Gigli the singer's art of sustaining a note (before 1722).^[2] The phrase non è più il tempo che Berta filava “those days are gone” is recorded in 1585.^[2]

From the 17th century the verb also meant moving in file: Davila describes troops withdrawing “filing off, as soldiers say” (1630).^[2] From this came “to go away” (Goldoni, 1764), “to toe the line”, and “to hold together” of an argument (Pirandello, before 1936).^[2] Sailors used filare for paying out a rope (1772).^[2] Filare il perfetto amore “to be perfectly in love” is recorded in 1808–1825, and the plain intransitive “to court, to go out together” in 1905.^[2] The Roman use “to take notice of someone”, often in the negative, is recorded in 1954.^[13]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the verb for spinning.^[5]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses filare in the Convivio.^[2]
• 1340–1342 – Boccaccio uses it for letting a liquid run out.^[2]
• Before 1416 – Frizzi uses it of spiders and silkworms.^[2]
• 1585 – Non è più il tempo che Berta filava is recorded in Cecchi.^[2]
• 1630 – Davila uses filare for troops moving in file.^[2]
• Before 1722 – Gigli uses it for sustaining a note.^[2]
• 1764 – Goldoni uses it for “to go away”.^[2]
• 1772 – The nautical sense “pay out a rope” is recorded.^[2]
• 1905 – Intransitive filare “to court” is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1936 – Pirandello uses it of an argument that holds together.^[2]
• 1954 – The Roman sense “to take notice of someone” is recorded.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To spin textile fibres into thread, by hand or by machine: filare il cotone.^[4][9][16]
2. To draw other materials into thread, especially by melting them: filare il rame.^[4][9]
3. To let a liquid run out slowly in a thin stream.^[4][9]
4. Of silkworms and spiders, to spin a cocoon or a web.^[4][9]
5. (music) To sustain a note, varying its loudness.^[4][9][16]
6. (nautical) To pay out a rope or chain gradually, keeping hold of the end;^[4][9][17] filare i remi (rowing), to stop rowing and let the blades skim the water.^[4][9][17]
7. (colloquial, central Italy) To take notice of someone, pay attention to them, usually in the negative: In ufficio nessuno lo fila.^[4][17][16]
8. (literary) To arrange, prepare.^[4][17]
9. (intransitive) To form threads, to be stringy, as melted cheese does.^[4][16]
10. (intransitive, colloquial) To go fast, to speed along; to scram: filare via.^[16][13]
11. (intransitive, figurative) Of an argument or speech, to hold together, follow logically.^[16][13]
12. (intransitive, colloquial) To court, to go out together;^[9][13][16] filare il perfetto amore, to be perfectly in love.^[9][13][16]

Word family

• filato
• filatura
• filatoio
• filatore
• filanda
• filabile
• filante
• rifilare
• trafilare