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rete

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Pronunciation

Forms

rete f (plural reti)[1] Earlier forms include Old Italian rei, rede, rèa and ride.[2][3] The southern dialect word Neapolitan rezza continues the Latin plural rētia.[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rēte (“net”), neuter, and the feminine and masculine rētem that Latin also used.[5][2][6] The word is pan-Romance except in Romanian: Old French roit, French rets (now disused), Occitan ret, Spanish red, Portuguese rede.[2][4][7]

The origin of the Latin word is obscure, and it may be a loan.[5][8] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *rēti- and, after Niedermann, an original masculine *rētis with a neuter plural rētia, from which the neuter singular was back-formed.[8] A link with Latin rārus (“thin, rare”) has been given up on formal grounds;[8][1] Baltic words such as Lithuanian rėtis (“sieve”) could point to a root Proto-Indo-European *ret-, but the isolated, purely nominal word may equally be borrowed, perhaps from a Semitic source like Biblical Hebrew רֶשֶׁת (rešet, “net”).[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and GRADIT date the word to the 12th century in the form rei.[2][6] DELI's first record is Dante's Commedia (1313–1319), for a device of rope or thread knotted into a mesh to catch fish, birds or other animals; the northern form rede is used in rhyme in the sonnets of Onesto da Bologna at the end of the 13th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses are as old as Dante, “snare, deceit”, and Boccaccio's “ambush”.[5] The net for the hair (reticella) is in Giovanni Villani, and Vasari (1550) used rete for any netting and for a grid of crossing lines; the idea of a system of linked points followed in 1681.[5] DEI dates the network of a city's streets to the 20th century.[7] From the network of roads and railways the word passed to electrical, telephone, radio and television networks, and to computer networks.[9][10][1]

In football rete was first the net behind the goal, then by 1913 the goal itself, and, from the late 1930s a goal scored, in competition with goal.[5] The tennis and volleyball net is recorded in 1953.[5] In cookery and anatomy rete is the caul or omentum used to wrap pork liver, already in the 14th-century Libro della cucina.[5][11] Learned derivatives came straight from Latin: reticolo, reticolato and retina, the last first used by Constantine the African in the 11th century.[5]

Timeline

  • 12th century – The form rei is recorded.[2][6]
  • Late 13th century – Onesto da Bologna rhymes on rede.[5]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses rete for a hunting or fishing net and for a snare.[5]
  • 14th century – Rete names the caul in the Libro della cucina.[5]
  • 1550 – Vasari uses it for netting and for a grid of lines.[5]
  • 1913 – Rete stands for the goal in a football report in the Resto del Carlino.[5]
  • 1953 – The tennis and volleyball net is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A net of knotted thread or cord for catching fish, birds or other animals: rete da pesca.[6][12][10]
  2. (figurative) A trap, snare; a lure: cadere nella rete.[6][12][13]
  3. Any mesh or netting used to enclose, protect or hold: wire fencing, a string shopping bag, a hairnet, the sprung base of a bed.[6][12][14]
  4. (sport) The net of a goal; the goal itself; a goal scored: segnare due reti.[6][10] Also the net across a tennis or volleyball court.[6][12][10]
  5. A network of lines, routes, channels or connections: rete stradale, rete ferroviaria, rete elettrica; a sales network.[9][10][15]
  6. A broadcasting network, a television channel: a reti unificate.[1][15]
  7. (computing) A computer network, la Rete, the Internet: cercare in rete.[10][6]
  8. (anatomy) A network of blood vessels or nerves.[10]

Word family

  • retata
  • reticella
  • reticolato
  • reticolo
  • retiforme
  • retina
  • retinare
  • retinico
  • retino
  • irretire
  • retare
  • retato
  • rezza
  • Latin rēte

Usage notes

Senza rete, literally “without a safety net” as in the circus, means taking a risk without protection.[13][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 918
  4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3234
  8. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3235
  12. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Suppl. 2009