piviale

Forms

piviale m (plural piviali)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian pieviale, used by Boccaccio, and Old Italian pievale.^[2][3][4] Later records also have pioviale (1365) and ploviale (15th century).^[5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin pluviāle, a semi-learned word, recorded in Medieval Latin from the 9th century, and at Farfa in 1125.^[3][5] The Medieval Latin noun meant “rain cloak”: it is the neuter of Latin pluviālis (“of rain, rainy”) used as a noun, with a word for “cloak” understood.^[3][7][8][4] The adjective is formed from pluvia (“rain”) with the suffix -ālis.^[9][1]

The rain cloak became the long, open vestment that the priest wears for blessings and processions.^[7][10] The Catholic Encyclopedia, quoted by DELI, explains that Italy prefers the name because the garment is shaped like a mantle that keeps off rain and bad weather, while outside Italy it is called a cope, and in Spain also mantus.^[3] In Old French the same adjective gave Old French ploviel, a word for a rain-bringing wind.^[10] Meyer-Lübke rejected Diez's link with plēbs (“the common people”), which does not fit the meaning.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is in the statutes of Pistoia of 1313, where the word already means a liturgical vestment, a wide semicircular cloak of costly cloth.^[2] The Medieval Latin form piviale itself is found at Piacenza in 1342.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio's Decameron has the old form pieviale, in a scene where the friars go in procession “all dressed in albs and copes” (tutti vestiti co’ camisci e co’ pieviali).^[11][12] DEI notes that the piece of cloth on the shoulders was once the hood that covered the head when the cope served as a rain cloak in outdoor processions.^[5] Tommaseo adds that the cope was worn at solemn services but not at Mass, except by the assistant priest at a sung Mass.^[6]

The vestment entered the liturgy between the 7th and the 8th century and is still used outside Mass, at blessings, consecrations, processions, some sacraments and funerals.^[13] By extension the word is used for any wide, long cloak, often jokingly.^[14][13][15] The derivative pivialista named the man who wore the cope in processions.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 9th century – Medieval Latin pluviale is recorded.^[3]
• 1125 – Medieval Latin pluviale is recorded at Farfa.^[5]
• 1313 – The statutes of Pistoia have the first Italian record.^[2]
• 1342 – The form piviale appears in the Medieval Latin of Piacenza.^[3]
• 1353 – Boccaccio writes pieviale.^[3]
• Before 1449 – Burchiello uses piviale.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (ecclesiastical) cope: a long, wide liturgical cloak, open at the front and held at the breast by a clasp, worn by priests at blessings, processions and other solemn rites.^{[8][14][13][1]}
2. (by extension, jocular) Any wide cloak reaching down to the feet.^[14][15][13]

Word family

• pivialista
• pivialata

Related words

• pluviale
• pioggia
• piviere
• Latin pluvialis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 785
5. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2961
6. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 610
13. ^ a b c d 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse