pedula

Forms

pedula f (plural pedule)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Lombard pedü made Italian: according to Bisceglia, quoted by DELI, the plural in the sense “mountain shoes” is a northern word adapting the form of the Lombard Alpine valleys (also pedüi, padüi).^[2][3] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli derive it within Italian from pedule, the foot of a stocking.^[4][5][6] De Mauro analyses it as a formation on pēs (“foot”) with the suffix ⟨-ula⟩.^[7]

The stocking word is pedūle (“footwear”), the neuter of the adjective pedūlis (“of the feet”) used as a noun, from the same noun.^[1][8] Wiktionary sees in the climbing shoe the same Late Latin word with a change of gender.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from 1902, when the Corriere della Sera wrote of two peduli bought from the shoemaker; the climbing sense, a shoe with a light, flexible sole for alpinists, is dated 1934.^[2][9][7]

Semantic evolution

DEI records an older pedule in Lazio in 1340 for a shoe with a rope sole, and notes that the word was taken up again as le pedule for the shoes of rock climbers.^[10] The climbing shoe was a high boot of leather or canvas with a sole of felt or cloth, used above all on Dolomite rock; now rubber soles are used.^[7][9] The sense has widened to light synthetic boots with rubber soles for hiking.^[7][9][3]

Timeline

• 1340 – An older pedule “shoe with a rope sole” is recorded in Lazio.^[10]
• 1902 – The Corriere della Sera writes of peduli bought from a shoemaker.^[2]
• 1934 – The climbing shoe is recorded under pedula.^[2][4][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mountaineering) A climbing shoe with a light, flexible sole, formerly of felt or canvas, now of rubber.^[9][7][5][6]
2. A light hiking boot of synthetic material for walks in the mountains.^[7][9][3]

Related words

• pedule
• piede
• Latin pēs

Usage notes

The word is mostly used in the plural, pedule.^[2][3][1] The stress is either pedùla or pèdula.^[5][3][9] The plural pedule is spelled like the masculine noun pedule, the foot of a stocking.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2821