pettignone

Forms

pettignone m (plural pettignoni)^[1] Old forms include pettiglione (Grazzini), pectignone, petignone, pittignone and pitognone.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pectiniō, a derivative of Latin pecten (“comb; pubes”), named from the hair that covers the part.^[5][6][3][1] GRADIT and DEI see a diminutive, Devoto–Oli and Wiktionary an extension of the noun.^[5][7][8][1] Nocentini derives it from pectĭnāre (“to comb”), as “the hairy part of the body”, a meaning the noun pecten also had.^[9] DEI considers the Latin sense “pubes”, found in Pliny and Juvenal, a calque of Ancient Greek κτείς (kteís).^[7]

Related derivatives of the same noun are Neapolitan pettenale, Corsican pettignone, French pénil, Old Occitan penchenilh and Portuguese pentenilho, and Spanish empeine for the same part.^[4][1][2]

pecten comes from Proto-Italic *pekten and Proto-Indo-European *pḱtḗn, from the root Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to pluck”) of pectō (“to comb”).^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date it before 1348, from G. Villani, who describes young men wearing a short tight coat with a belt and a large German-style purse sopra il pettignone, over the groin.^[5][6][3][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century it was the common word for the pubic region, in Simintendi, in Bencivenni's medical writing, where scorpion oil rubbed on it breaks the stone, and in the vernacular Marco Polo, where apes are plucked except for the beard and the pittignone.^[3] In battle scenes it is where a blade strikes: Pulci has Orlando drive his whole sword nel pettignon.^[11][8][12]

Today it is literary or obsolete, replaced by the learned pube.^[5][6][13] Dialects keep related forms: Venetian petenécio and Abruzzese pettentechie.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1348 – G. Villani uses pettignone.^[5][6]
• 16th century – Grazzini has the variant pettiglione.^[7][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary, obsolete) The pubis, the lower part of the belly above the genitals.^{[5][8][6][12]}

Related words

• pettine
• pettinare
• pube
• Latin pecten

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 767
3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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 d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2884
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ 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)
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana