pettorale

Forms

pettorale m or f by sense (plural pettorali)^[1] An old variant is petorale.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pectorālis (“of the breast”), with the noun taken from its neuter used as a noun, pectorāle (“breastplate”).^{[4][5][6][2][1]} Zingarelli, DEI and the GDLI call the word learned.^[7][8][3] DEI notes that the Latin noun was used mostly in the plural, pectorālia, for a cuirass in Varro and Pliny, and that it lives on in Italy and the western Romance area, as in Old Sicilian pecturali (1345).^[8] Meyer-Lübke lists the noun's outcomes as Old French poitral, French poitrail, Old Occitan peitral, Catalan pitral, Spanish pretal and Portuguese peitoral.^[9] Treccani treats the Italian noun as the adjective used as a noun.^[10]

The Latin adjective is formed from pectus (“breast, chest”) with the suffix -ālis.^[11][1][12] De Vaan derives the noun from Proto-Italic *pektos- and takes Old Irish ucht (“breast”) as a likely cognate, if it goes back to an older form with the vowel ⟨e⟩.^[12]

In Taranto the form Tarantino pitterralé shows the influence of pettiera.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in the Ricordi di una famiglia senese (1231–1262), for the leather strap that passes in front of a horse's chest;^[13][14] Tommaseo quotes from that text per lo pettorale del mulo (“for the mule's breast-strap”).^[13][14]

Semantic evolution

In Umbria in 1233 the word already meant a parapet or window ledge, and it is found at Venice in 1287.^[8] The Tavola ritonda (14th century) tells of two knights who struck each other so hard that they broke girths and breast-straps (cinghie e sopracinghie e pettorali).^[14] It also named the part of armour that covered the chest.^[8][14]

The adjective came later: Buti (before 1406) writes of la parte pettorale, the chest of an animal, in his commentary on Dante.^[13][3] In anatomy Redi wrote of the muscoli pettorali.^[14] In pharmacy a pettorale was a remedy for the chest: an acqua pettorale made with jujubes and liquorice was taken for coughs, a sense the modern dictionaries mark as old.^[14][7][6] The croce pettorale is the cross that bishops wear on the chest.^[7][15]

In modern sport the noun names the cloth with the competitor's number; the dictionaries also record a part of the loom and a garment's bib.^[2][5][10] Zingarelli records an obsolete adverb pettoralmente “rashly, impulsively”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1231–1262 – The noun, for a horse's breast-strap, appears in the Ricordi di una famiglia senese.^[13]
• 1233 – The sense “parapet, ledge” is recorded in Umbria.^[8]
• 1287 – The noun is recorded at Venice.^[8]
• 1345 – Old Sicilian pecturali is recorded.^[8]
• Before 1406 – Buti uses the adjective “of the chest”.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the chest: (anatomy) the muscoli pettorali join the arm to the shoulder;^[5][10][2] (zoology) the pinne pettorali are a fish's paired front fins.^[5][10][2]
2. Worn on the chest, as an ornament or emblem: croce pettorale, a bishop's pectoral cross.^[2][7][15]
3. (dated, pharmacy) Of a remedy: good against coughs and chest complaints: uno sciroppo pettorale.^[2][10][6]

Noun

1. A breast collar: the leather strap of a harness that passes across the horse's chest.^[2][5][10]
2. (sport) A bib with the competitor's number, worn on the chest: aveva il 12 sul pettorale.^[2][5][6]
3. (historical) The breastplate of a suit of armour.^[2][5][10]
4. An ornament of precious metal or gems worn on the chest.^[2][5][10]
5. (anatomy, usually plural) A pectoral muscle: allenare i pettorali in palestra.^[2][5][16]
6. The breast beam of a loom.^[2][10][6]
7. (historical) A parapet of a tower or castle wall.^[2][5][10]
8. The bib of a garment, as on religious habits and uniforms; a pettorina.^[2][10]

Word family

• pettoralmente

Related words

• petto
• pettorina
• pettiera
• Latin pectus

Usage notes

GRADIT, Treccani and Sabatini–Coletti split the adjective and the noun into two numbered headwords;^{[2][10][6][13][4]} DELI and Nocentini treat them as one word.^{[2][10][6][13][4]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 218
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 h i j 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 c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2886
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e f Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli