pestello

Forms

pestello m (plural pestelli)^[1] Old Italian also had pistello.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pistĕllum, a variant of Latin pistĭllum (“pestle”).^[3][4][5] The Vulgar Latin form is continued in Italian, French and Occitan: Old French pestel and Old Occitan pestel.^[6][4][7] The classical form passed into Welsh as pistyll.^[6][7]

The Latin noun is a diminutive formed from the root of Latin pīnsō (“to pound, crush”).^[8][9][1] Nocentini treats it as a diminutive of Latin pīlum (“pestle”), which goes back to an instrument noun of the same verb, as the diminutive itself shows.^[4][8] Wiktionary notes that a regular diminutive of the base would rather have the ending of the Vulgar Latin form that the Italian word continues.^[1] The learned borrowing of the classical word is pistillo.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Andrea da Grosseto, in 1268, in Tuscan, for the tool used with a mortar to pound things to powder or paste.^[2][10] DELI cites the translation of Saint Augustine of the second half of the 14th century, where spelt is not crushed without the pestle.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

In 1353 Boccaccio used pestello as a metaphor for the penis, and in the conclusion of the Decameron he defends his words by saying that people say mortaio and pestello every day.^[3][12] Old Italian pistello could also mean “bolt”, the same as chiavistello.^[2][3]

Later uses carried the tool into industry: in a stamp mill (mulino a pestelli) and in pneumatic rammers, and in foundry work from 1973 for packing refractory earth in moulds.^[13][3][5] In Lucca pistello is also a plump little child.^[7]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses pestello.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it as a metaphor for the penis.^[3]
• Second half of the 14th century – The Italian translation of Saint Augustine uses pestello of the pestle.^[3]
• 1973 – Zingarelli records the foundry sense.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pestle, a club-shaped tool of wood, metal, glass or porcelain for crushing and grinding in a mortaio.^[5][14][13]
2. (engineering) A machine part of similar shape and use, such as the rammer of a stamp mill.^[5][13]
3. A meat tenderizer, batticarne.^[5][15][10]
4. (slang) The penis.^[5][14][10]

Word family

• pestellata

Related words

• pestare
• pistillo
• Latin pistillum

Usage notes

DEI lists a separate botanical pestello, a popular name of the cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum) and of a white mushroom, named after the shape of the flower spike and of the stem.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2877
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse