pedale

Forms

pedale m (plural pedali)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian pedal, Old Italian pedalo and Old Italian pedagle.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin pedale, the neuter of the adjective Latin pedālis (“a foot long; of the foot”) used as a noun.^[3][4][5] The adjective is formed from pēs (“foot”) with the suffix -ālis.^[6][1] In classical Latin it meant “measuring one foot”; the sense “relating to the foot” is Late Latin.^[6][7]

Battisti and Alessio place the noun in the Italian and Ibero-Romance area: it is also Spanish peal and Portuguese peal, the foot of a stocking or sock.^[8][4][9] Meyer-Lübke adds Friulian pidal (“tree trunk”) and Asturian pial (“step of a stair”).^[9]

The musical and mechanical senses grew from the old Italian noun, and Italian passed them on: French pédale is recorded from 1560, German Pedal from 1571 and English pedal from 1611.^[10][8] The English word came through French.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records, from the 13th century in a Pistoian text and in Jacopone da Todi, use pedale for the lowest part of a tree, where the trunk meets the roots.^[2] Jacopone describes a tree whose pedale en derittura (trunk, straight up) was free of knots.^[5] DELI's first dated record of this sense is from Giordano da Pisa, around 1304.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian stretched the tree sense to the base of an object, the foot of a mountain and the trunk itself, also figuratively.^[2] In Boccaccio it could mean “lineage”.^[8][12] From the 15th century it also named the handle of a flail.^[8][12] An older measure of length called pedale is recorded at Farfa in 1027.^[8]

The sense “lever worked by the foot” is first found in musical instruments: Citolini names the pedal of an instrument before 1561.^[3][8] In harmony pedale also came to mean a long-held note under changing chords.^[8][13] The shoemaker's strap, held taut with the foot to keep the work still on the knee, is recorded from 1772, and the treadle of a lathe or loom from 1853.^[3] With the bicycle came the pedal of the cycle (1901) and the verb pedalare (1895, D'Annunzio).^[3] Modern dictionaries add the brake, clutch and accelerator pedals of cars.^[14][15]

In central Italy, especially Rome, pedale and its diminutive pedalino mean a man's sock.^[3][16] DEI derives this sense from a separate Late Latin pedale “footwear”, recorded in Petronius.^[8]

Timeline

• 1027 – Pedale as a measure of length is recorded at Farfa.^[8]
• 13th century – Earliest Old Italian records, for the base of a tree trunk.^[2]
• c. 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses pedale for the lower trunk of a tree.^[3][13]
• Before 1561 – A. Citolini names the pedal of a musical instrument.^[3]
• 1560 – French pedalle is recorded in music.^[10]
• 1571 – German Pedal is recorded.^[8]
• 1611 – English pedal is recorded.^[8]
• 1772 – D'Alberti records the shoemaker's strap.^[3]
• 1853 – D'Ayala records the treadle of a lathe or loom.^[3]
• 1895 – D'Annunzio uses pedalare.^[3]
• 1901 – The pedal of the bicycle is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pedal or treadle: a part of a machine worked by pressing with the foot, to drive it or to work a control: spingere forte sui pedali in salita.^[13][15][17]
2. (music) A pedal of a piano, organ, harp or other instrument, used to sustain or soften the sound or to change the pitch.^[13][15][18]
3. (music) A pedal point: a note held or repeated while the harmony changes above it.^[13][15][17]
4. (rail transport) A device on the track worked by the pressure of a train's wheels, part of the signalling and safety system.^[13]
5. A shoemaker's leather loop, held taut with the foot to keep the shoe still on the knee.^[13][15][18]
6. (botany) The base of a tree trunk or of a branch, where it is thickest.^[13][18][19]
7. One of the main net sections of a tonnara (tuna trap).^[13][18]
8. (regional) A man's sock; usually pedalino.^[18][14][17]

Adjective

1. (zoology) Relating to the foot, especially of molluscs, rotifers and hydroids.^[20][18]
2. (botany) Relating to the base of a tree trunk: pollone pedale, a sucker from the base.^[20][18]

Word family

• pedalare
• pedalata
• pedalatore
• pedaliera
• pedalino
• pedalò
• pedalabile
• pedaleggiare
• contropedale

Related words

• piede
• Latin pedālis
• French pédale
• English pedal

Usage notes

Sport del pedale is a name for cycling.^[17][19] A pedale describes a machine worked by a pedal (macchina per cucire a pedale).^[14][19] In geometry the feminine noun pedale is the curve also called podaria, short for curva pedale.^[20][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 914
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 915
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2816
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 756
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 755
17. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
19. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
20. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)