labbro

Forms

labbro m (plural (with anatomic or figurative meanings) labbra f or (figuratively) labbri m)^[1] The older and literary form is labro,^[2][3][4] and Old Italian also had lavro.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin labrum (“lip”), a neuter noun used mostly in the plural, which later was also treated as a feminine.^[6][7][8][1] The double consonant is the Tuscan strengthening of /br/, as in fabbro.^[6][4] The feminine plural of the Italian word continues the Latin neuter plural.^[6][9]

The same word is French lèvre, Occitan laura, Friulian lavri and Sardinian lara (a feminine), while the Ibero-Romance words come from the variant labium.^[7][10]

DELI finds no counterparts elsewhere in Indo-European except some popular expressive words in Germanic.^[6] Nocentini sees precise correspondents there, Old High German leffur and lefs (whence German Lefze, “animal's lip”) and the type of the English word lip, and derives them from a root Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang, protrude”), also the source of labile.^[7][1] Battisti and Alessio explain the Latin /a/ against the /e/ of Old High German as a “popular” vowel.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is labro in 13th-century Florentine texts, for the fold around the mouth.^[6][8] Brunetto Latini, before 1294, has le labra vermiglia (“the vermilion lips”) in a description of beauty, and uses the plural also for the mouth.^[6][5] The plural labbra is recorded in Dante.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Dante also uses the word for a rim or raised edge (1300–1313), and the Italian translation of Crescenzi, about 1350, for the edge of a wound.^[6] In the early 18th century Clarici applied it to the turned-back parts of a flower.^[6] Phrases include labbro molle, an old word for a drinker (Oudin, 1639), labbro leporino, “cleft lip” (1775), and the botanical labbro di Venere (19th century).^[11]

Modern figurative phrases treat the lips as the organ of speech: pendere dalle labbra di qualcuno, to hang on someone's words, a fior di labbra, in a whisper, and mordersi le labbra, to hold back words or regret them.^[12][3][13]

Timeline

• 13th century – Labro appears in Florentine texts.^[6]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the plural for the mouth.^[6]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the word for a rim.^[6]
• c. 1350 – The sense “edge of a wound” appears.^[6]
• 1639 – Oudin records labbro molle “drinker”.^[11]
• Before 1725 – Clarici uses the word for parts of a flower.^[6]
• 1775 – Labbro leporino is recorded.^[11]
• 1839 – Slabbrare is first recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural labbra) A lip, either of the two fleshy folds around the mouth.^{[8][2][12][1]}
2. (chiefly in the plural labbra) The mouth, especially as the organ of speech.^{[8][2][12][4]}
3. (anatomy, plural labbra) The labia of the female genitals: grandi and piccole labbra.^[4][12][3]
4. (plural labbri) The edge of a wound or a cut.^[12][4][13]
5. (plural labbri) A raised rim or brim, as of a vase or a well.^{[12][4][3][1]}

Word family

• labbrata
• slabbrare
• labbrone
• labbroso
• labbreggiare
• labbruto
• labbrato

Related words

• labile
• labiale
• Latin labrum
• Latin labium

Usage notes

The plural is the feminine labbra for the lips and the mouth, and the masculine labbri for edges and rims; older and literary Italian also used labbri for the lips, and poetry the plural labbia.^{[12][3][4][14][5]} Labbro leporino is a cleft lip.^[2][12] An old learned labbro or labro, “basin”, came from Latin lābrum, a contraction of lavābrum.^[5][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 652
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2143
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press