padiglione

Forms

padiglione (masculine, plural padiglioni)^[2][3] Old forms include Old Italian paviglione, Old Italian padeglione and Old Italian padellione.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāpiliō (“butterfly; tent”).^{[6][7][2][4][1]} The Latin word meant “butterfly” and, in Late Latin and the soldiers' language, a military tent.^[6][5] DELI explains the transfer by the look of an army camp, whose tents seen from above resemble butterflies;^[6][7][8] Nocentini and Gabrielli by the likeness of the tent's curtains to a butterfly's wings.^[6][7][8]

The same word is French pavillon and Old Occitan pabalhon, from which Spanish pabellón and Portuguese pavilhão were borrowed.^[9] Devoto sees in Old Italian paviglione and pavillon the northern softening of ⟨p⟩ to ⟨v⟩, and in the Italian ⟨d⟩ a crossing with the family of sbadiglio.^[10] The inherited doublet of the insect word is papiglione.^[1][3]

De Vaan explains Latin pāpiliō as a reduplication of a root meaning “to fly, flutter”, which also built the Germanic word for the butterfly, Old High German fīfaltra;^[11][7] Nocentini traces it to Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to flutter”) and compares German Falter.^[11][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma, 1252–1258, in the sense of a large field tent used in army camps to lodge officers.^[4] DELI's first record is the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, for the sumptuous tent raised for important persons.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for a tent, for a whole camp in the plural, for the cloth canopy around a bed, and for the banner of the Commune.^[4] Giamboni describes the Roman army in which ten horsemen shared one padiglione under a decurion.^[5] The padiglione was also a French gold coin, struck from 1339 and showing Philip VI under a canopy, mentioned by Giovanni Villani.^[4][12]

From the tent the word spread to things of similar shape: a marble canopy (before 1574, Vasari), the lower facets of a gem (before 1571, Cellini), the outer ear (1829), the flared end of a wind instrument and the roof of a car (1970).^[6][3] Leonardo uses it for a separate building before 1519, but the sense of a small building in a garden belonging to a main house came from French pavillon, as Panzini noted in 1908; from there it passed to the separate buildings of hospitals and exhibitions.^[6][13] Poets used it for the vault of the sky, as Foscolo's etereo padiglion.^[14]

German borrowed padeglione in 1472–1473.^[15]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma use padiglione “field tent”.^[4]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for a sumptuous field tent.^[6]
• 14th century – The vernacular Seneca uses it for a cloth canopy.^[6]
• 1472–1473 – German padeglione is first recorded.^[15]
• Before 1519 – Leonardo uses it for a separate building.^[6]
• Before 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini uses it for the lower part of a gem.^[6]
• Before 1574 – Vasari uses it for a marble canopy.^[6]
• 1829 – The anatomical sense, the outer ear, is recorded.^[6]
• 1908 – Panzini notes the sense of a garden building, from French.^[6]
• 1970 – Zingarelli records the sense of a car roof.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A large, richly decorated field tent for sovereigns and commanders.^{[2][16][17][3]}
2. A canopy of cloth over a bed; a draped ornament over doors or windows: un letto a padiglione.^{[2][16][3][8]}
3. A pavilion, a light building in a park or garden: un padiglione di caccia.^[2][16][17]
4. A separate building in a larger complex, such as a hospital ward or an exhibition hall: Le visite al padiglione di pediatria finiscono alle otto.^{[2][16][17][3]}
5. (automotive) The roof of a car.^[2][17][3]
6. (anatomy) The flared end of an organ; in padiglione auricolare, the auricle of the ear.^[2][17][3]
7. (music) The bell of a wind instrument.^[2][3]
8. (nautical) The shrouds and stays of a sailing ship's mast.^[2][17]
9. The lower, faceted part of a cut gem.^[3][8]
10. (architecture) In tetto a padiglione, a hip roof; in volta a padiglione, a cloister vault.^[2][16][18]
11. (poetic) The vault of the sky.^[3][18]

Word family

• padiglioncino

Related words

• papiglione
• farfalla
• French pavillon
• Latin pāpiliō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 332
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana