pettinare

Forms

pettinare (first-person singular present pèttino, first-person singular past historic pettinài, past participle pettinàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pectinō (“to comb”), formed from pecten (“comb”).^[2][3][4][1] The GDLI notes that the Latin verb meant “to harrow” first and “to comb” later, beside the older pectō (“to comb”).^[5][6] De Vaan derives the noun from that verb and reconstructs Proto-Italic *petken- (“comb”) and Proto-Indo-European *p(e)tḱ-, from an older reduplicated *pe-pḱ-.^[7] Wiktionary gives the root as *peḱ-.^[1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary compares Ancient Greek κτείς (kteís, “comb”).^[8]

The verb is found across the Romance languages: French peigner, Occitan penchenar, Catalan pentinar, Spanish peinar, Portuguese pentear, Sardinian pettenare and Romanian pieptăna.^[3][9][1] In many places it also means to hackle hemp.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the textile sense, to comb out fibres, in Matazone da Caligano in the second half of the 13th century.^[2] The TLIO's first record is the statutes of Siena of 1298.^[10] The sense “to comb the hair” is first cited from Petrarch: Pettinando al suo vecchio i bianchi velli, “combing her old father's white locks”.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb for brushing an animal's coat, for passing textile fibres again and again through a toothed tool to straighten and clean them, and figuratively for treating someone harshly.^[10] GRADIT dates the jocular sense “to give a beating” to 1304–1308.^[4]

In modern Italian the verb also means to do someone's hair in a particular style, and figuratively to scold or criticise severely.^[4][11][12] Colloquial uses include searching everywhere for something, and an old jocular sense “to eat greedily”.^{[13][14][4][12]} Derivatives followed: pettinatore in the 14th century, pettinatura and pettinata in the 18th, pettinatrice in the 19th, and spettinare in 1865.^[3]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – Matazone da Caligano uses the verb of combing textile fibres.^[2]
• 1298 – The verb appears in the statutes of Siena.^[10]
• 1304–1308 – The jocular sense “to give a beating” is first recorded.^[4]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it of combing hair.^[2]
• 14th century – Pettinatore, a comber, is first recorded.^[3]
• 18th century – Pettinatura and pettinata appear.^[3]
• 1865 – Spettinare, to ruffle the hair, is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To comb someone's hair with a comb or brush: Pettinò la figlia prima della festa.^[4][11][13]
2. By extension, to do someone's hair in a particular hairstyle.^[4][11][12]
3. To brush or comb the coat of an animal.^[4][11][14]
4. (figurative, humorous) To give someone a beating, to handle roughly.^[4][12][15]
5. (figurative) To scold or criticise severely.^[4][14][15]
6. (textiles) To comb or card textile fibres.^[4][11][13]
7. (colloquial) To search a place thoroughly, go through it with a fine-tooth comb.^[13][14]
8. (humorous, dated) To eat greedily.^[4][12]

Word family

• pettinatura
• pettinata
• pettinatore
• pettinatrice
• spettinare
• pettinatoio
• ripettinare
• pettinato

Related words

• pettine
• Latin pecten

Usage notes

Pettinarsi is the reflexive form, to comb one's own hair.^[11][13] DEI records a separate learned pettinare of 20th-century agriculture, “to harrow, clear the ground of weeds”, taken from the Latin verb as Pliny used it.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2884