nappa

Forms

nappa f (plural nappe)^[1] Old Italian had the plural nappe and, in Ragusa, the form Old Italian nape.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”), with the first /m/ dissimilated to /n/ before the following labial, as in nespolo from mespilum.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} All the Italian etymological dictionaries agree on this, and DELI finds it sound in form but weaker in meaning.^[3] A. Castellani has shown, though, that mappa itself meant “tassel” in several 14th-century examples.^[3] Nocentini explains the tassel as a metonymy: the ornament attached to a cloth.^[4] The same Latin word gave French nappe (“tablecloth”), Venetian napa and Friulian nape (“chimney hood”).^[4][9] Quintilian calls mappa a Punic word.^[4][10][1]

The sense “big nose” has a debated source.^[3][11] DEI did not rule out a Lombardic word related to Old Norse nef (“nose”), and another study cited by DELI also takes it for a Lombardic loan.^[3][12] DELI, after Salvioni, Pellis and Alessio, sees a joking use of the northern word for the “chimney hood”, recorded at Venice in the 14th century, and Nocentini and the REW agree.^[3][4][9]

DELI and Nocentini keep the soft leather under this word, and Nocentini derives it from the sense of a fabric, soft and thin;^{[3][4][13][7]} GDLI and Treccani instead take the leather and the geological sense from French nappe.^{[3][4][13][7]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's oldest records give the sense of the Latin word, a cloth used at table, a tablecloth or napkin: a document from Ragusa of the last quarter of the 13th century, and a Florentine one of 1348–1350.^[2] Old Italian servire di nappa meant “to lay the table”, and figuratively “to prepare a good opportunity”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The tassel is first recorded before 1481 in G. Rucellai the Elder, who lists sacchettini con nappe, little bags with tassels;^[3][13] Luca Pulci had already used the word before 1470 in a transferred sense, il sangue intorno gli facea le nappe (“the blood made tassels around him”).^[3][13] Tassels on uniforms, curtains and the hats of prelates followed: the number of tassels on a prelate's hat shows his rank.^[7][5]

The joking sense “big nose” is recorded before 1742 in G. B. Fagiuoli, and DEI calls it Venetian and Umbrian.^[3][12] Technical uses grew out of the tuft: the end of a ruminant's tail, a silk sliver in spinning, the middle net of a trammel, and nappa di cardinale for a plant.^[6][7] The soft leather appears in 1933 in the Enciclopedia italiana.^[3]

Timeline

• 1275–1300 – A Ragusa document has the word for a table cloth.^[2]
• 1348–1350 – A Florentine document has the same sense.^[2]
• 14th century – Venice records nappa for a chimney hood.^[3]
• Before 1470 – Luca Pulci uses the word in a transferred sense.^[3]
• Before 1481 – G. Rucellai the Elder records nappa “tassel”.^[3][13]
• Before 1742 – G. B. Fagiuoli uses it for a big nose.^[3]
• 1933 – The Enciclopedia italiana has nappa for soft leather.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Tassel: a bunch of silk, wool or other threads tied at one end, hung from a cord or along the edge of a curtain or drape as an ornament.^{[5][6][14][1]}
2. (heraldry) Each of the tassels on a prelate's hat, whose number shows his rank.^[5][7]
3. Nappa leather: a very soft, thin leather for gloves, clothes and bags.^{[5][6][11][1]}
4. (zoology) The tuft at the end of a ruminant's tail.^[5][6][15]
5. (textiles) A thick ribbon of silk drawn from the silk tuft before spinning.^[5][6][11]
6. (botany) The tuft of pulp and vessels left on the stalk of a grape when the berry is pulled off.^[11][7]
7. (botany) nappa di cardinale: a plant of the amaranth family, the cockscomb.^[6][14][7]
8. (fishing) nappa sottile: the middle net of a trammel.^[6][7]
9. (geology, uncommon) nappa acquea: an aquifer.^[6][11]
10. (liturgy) An altar cloth.^[14]
11. (colloquial, humorous) A big nose, and by extension a person with one.^{[5][6][11][16]}

Word family

• nappina
• nappare
• napposo
• napputo
• nappatrice
• nappatina

Related words

• mappa
• French nappe

Usage notes

Nappa is also a form of the verb nappare, a way of tanning skins, which is derived from the leather sense.^[4] In Arezzo nappa was also a wooden cup, the feminine of nappo;^[13] Redi records it.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2546
13. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana