orlare

Forms

orlare (first-person singular present órlo, first-person singular past historic orlài, past participle orlàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ōrulāre, formed on *ōrula, a diminutive of Latin ōra (“edge, border”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Sabatini–Coletti instead take a noun *órulu (“hem”) as the base.^[6] The same verb gave French ourler, Occitan orlar, Catalan orlar, Spanish orlar and Portuguese orlar.^[7][1] Meyer-Lübke lists orlo among its derivatives, with Old French orle and French ourlet.^[7] DEI suggests that ourle and the English heraldic word orle (1572) may come from Italian.^[8]

The origin of ora is disputed.^[9][1] The OLD, Zingarelli and Devoto take it as a collective form of Latin ōs (“mouth”).^[9][10][11] Wiktionary calls it of unknown origin and compares a Hittite word for “line, boundary”, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₁erh₂- (“border, line”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto, before 1274.^[12] There the phrase orlare il cappello sotto il mantello, literally “to hem one's hat under one's cloak”, meant to plot against someone in secret.^[13] The plain sense “to hem” is dated by DELI from Giordano da Pisa, before 1311, who says that the tunic of Christ fu così orlata, “was hemmed thus”.^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

In the Old Italian texts the verb meant to sew a fringe or a strip of cloth onto a garment, mostly as an ornament.^[12] Pucci used orlare il cappello for insulting or rebuking someone.^[13] Burchiello asks for a ribbon da orlar bicchieri, to rim glasses, and Firenzuola describes a mouth that nature orlata with two lips like coral.^[14][13] Manzoni's Lucia is sitting and hemming something when the work falls from her hands.^[14]

Derivatives include orliccio, the crust at the edge of a loaf (15th century, Bellincioni), orlatura (16th century, Firenzuola), and orlatrice, which in the 19th century named a machine that crimped the edge of hunting cartridges.^[8][15] In the figurative sense, anything that runs along an edge can orlare it: a beach the coast, clouds the mountain tops.^[4][5]

Timeline

• Before 1274 – Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto has the first record.^[12][13]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses orlare “to hem”.^[2]
• 15th century – Orliccio is recorded in Bellincioni.^[8]
• 16th century – Firenzuola uses orlatura.^[8]
• 19th century – Orlatrice names a machine for crimping cartridges.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hem: to finish the edge of a cloth or garment with a hem; to trim or border with lace, ribbon or the like: La sarta ha orlato le tende in un pomeriggio.^{[4][16][6][10]}
2. (by extension) To run along the edge of something, forming a border: Una fila di pini orla la spiaggia.^[4][16][5]
3. (pronominal, orlarsi) To appear rimmed with light or a halo.^[16]

Word family

• orlato
• orlatura
• orlatore
• orlatrice
• riorlare

Related words

• orlo
• Latin ora
• French ourler

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2677
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b c d e Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 715
16. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier