refe

Forms

refe m (plural refi)^[1] Variants include réffe, réffo, réfo, and the northern Venetian reve and révo.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain, and DELI calls it obscure, with many conflicting proposals.^[4][5][6]

Alessio, followed by Nocentini, sees it as inherited from Late Latin repe (“thread”) of the glosses, from rēpēns (“creeping”), the present participle of rēpō (“to creep”), as serpe is from serpēns: a stitch made by hand runs like a creeping line.^[4][7] Medieval documents of Veneto and Emilia have Medieval Latin repus, repe and rippe, and revum at Verona in 1319.^[4][8][2] Nocentini sees the word reaching Tuscan through the north: Venetian reve with lenition and Lombard ref with loss of the final vowel, adapted in Tuscan.^[7][4] DEI and Meyer-Lübke object that the gloss word does not explain the /f/.^[8][9]

Jud proposed Vulgar Latin *rĭfidus, split again, from findō (“to split”), an idea many accepted.^[4][2] Treccani prefers it, comparing bifidus.^[10] A third view, Diez's, favoured by Zaccaria and held by the FEW, sees a Germanic loan, Lombardic *reif (“rope”), with Old High German reif.^{[7][11][12][1]} Nocentini finds it difficult in sound and sense.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from B. Giamboni, before 1292, in the sense “twisted thread of linen or hemp”: in a passage on measuring the height of a wall, a fine thread is tied to an arrow shot to its top.^[4][2][13]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century Boccaccio has a purse of white refe, and an anonymous story recalls that people once sewed their clothes shut each morning with needle and refe, the nobles with silk.^[2][13] The derivative refaiuolo is recorded in the 14th century.^[8]

In Tuscan speech cucire a refe doppio, “to sew with double thread”, means to act with deceit, or to do something with all one's effort.^[5][14][10] DEI notes that in the dialects the word has given way to expressions meaning “fine thread”.^[8]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses refe.^[4]
• 1319 – Medieval Latin revum is recorded at Verona.^[8][2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio's Decameron has the word.^[5][13]
• 1431 – Reve is recorded at Brescia.^[4]
• 1474 – Reve is recorded at Ferrara.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (textiles) A strong thread made by twisting two or more yarns of linen, cotton, hemp or another fibre, used mainly for sewing: un rocchetto di refe nero, a reel of black thread.^[5][6][10]
2. (Tuscany, figurative) cucire a refe doppio: to act with double dealing; also, to do something with the utmost effort.^[5][14][10]

Word family

• refaiuolo

Usage notes

Refe del diavolo is a regional name of the dodders (Cuscuta).^[6][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3221
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli