penero

Forms

penero m (plural peneri)^[1] A statute of the wool guild of Radicondoli has the plural penari.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pedinus in the most likely view, a derivative of pēs (“foot”).^[3][4][5][1] Nocentini and De Mauro explain the Italian form by a metathesis of the consonants and the change of ⟨-d-⟩ to ⟨-r-⟩.^[4][5][6] DELI, Zingarelli and Sabatini–Coletti mark the derivation as uncertain.^[3][7][8]

The Latin word is found only in Italy and Romania: Romanian piedin, Sicilian pèdinu and the dialects of Lucca and Piacenza.^[4][9][10] Meyer-Lübke glossed the Latin word as the comb of a fabric, and noted that the Italian word passed into Campidanese pindutu.^[10]

Among weaker proposals, Wiktionary mentions Latin pendulus (“hanging”), and as less likely penna (“feather”).^[1] Tommaseo thought of a diminutive of the Italian word for feather, for the lightness, or of Ancient Greek πήνη (pḗnē, “woven stuff”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in texts from San Gimignano of 1334, which set a penalty for anyone who put peneri into a cloth: the unwoven ends of the warp.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the statutes of the Tuscan wool guilds the word was technical: a piece of cloth was not to be accepted from a weaver without its peneri.^[2] DEI records penerata from 1618 (Buonarroti the Younger), and Salvini used penero in the 18th century.^[9] Tommaseo noted that penero was then more common than penerata, which was said of a whole piece of cloth.^[11]

The word kept its meaning: the unwoven end of the warp, with threads and knots alternating, left as a fringe on shawls, blankets, rugs and towels.^[5][12] Pascoli used it figuratively of a fringe of hanging green branches.^[12][5]

Timeline

• 1334 – First record, in texts from San Gimignano.^[3][5]
• 1618 – Penerata appears in Buonarroti the Younger.^[9]
• 1700s – Salvini uses penero.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (textiles) The unwoven ends of the warp threads, left as a fringe on towels, shawls, rugs and blankets: Il tappeto aveva un penero bianco sui due lati.^[5][6][7]
2. (literary, figurative) A mass of hanging branches and leaves, or of threads.^[5][7]

Word family

• penerata

Related words

• piede
• Latin pēs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2833
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)