involtare

Forms

involtare (first-person singular present invòlto, first-person singular past historic involtài, past participle involtàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian involto, a denominal verb.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The sources differ on which sense of that word it comes from: DELI and Sabatini–Coletti start from the participle and adjective, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli from the noun “bundle”.^[2][7][3][5] That word is the past participle of involgere, from Latin involvō (“to roll up, wrap”).^[2][3]

Wiktionary and DEI instead start from Late Latin involūtāre, found in Apicius, a frequentative of the same verb formed on its participle involūtus, through Vulgar Latin *involtāre.^[1][8] REW records this Latin verb, glossed “to roll”, only in Tarantino milutari “to wallow in the mud”.^[9]

Latin volvō (“to roll”) goes back to Proto-Italic *welu-e/o- and to Proto-Indo-European *welu- (“to wind”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in an Old Italian translation of the Bible of the 14th century, for wrapping something in a bundle;^[2][3][5] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date the verb to the end of the 13th century.^[2][3][5] In that Bible Joseph takes the body of Jesus and wraps it (involtailo) in a new sheet.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The verb kept to the material sense of wrapping.^[12] M. Savonarola tells the midwife to wrap the newborn in warm swaddling, and D. Bartoli describes a forehead wrapped in a net of horsehair.^[11] A letter quoted by Tommaseo speaks of books wrapped in a bundle addressed to the writer.^[13] The reflexive, to wrap oneself, is recorded before 1653, in L. Giuglaris.^[2]

Treccani calls it a more popular synonym of involgere, used almost only in the literal sense.^[12] Zingarelli and Gabrielli also give an obsolete figurative reflexive, to get entangled.^[14][15] GRADIT marks the verb as rare, and Sabatini–Coletti as familiar.^[4][7]

Timeline

• 14th century – An Old Italian Bible translation uses involtare.^[2][4]
• Before 1653 – L. Giuglaris uses the reflexive involtarsi.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To wrap or wrap up, to involgere something in something else: Involtò le uova nella carta di giornale.^{[4][5][12][1]}
2. (reflexive, involtarsi) To wrap oneself: Si involtò in una vecchia coperta.^[5][7][12]
3. (reflexive, figurative, obsolete) To get entangled.^[14][15]

Word family

• rinvoltare
• involtata
• involtatura

Related words

• involto
• involgere
• involtino
• Latin involvō

Usage notes

GDLI records a separate obsolete involtare “to turn round”, formed from the intensive in- and voltare, in a poem of Manaldeschi.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2086
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli