rilegare

Forms

rilegare (first-person singular present rilégo or rilègo, first-person singular past historic rilegài, past participle rilegàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An old form is religare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin religō (“to tie back, bind fast”), formed with re- on ligō (“to tie, bind”).^[3][4][5][1] DELI and Nocentini read the prefix as “behind, on the opposite side”.^[3][4] Meyer-Lübke lists the Italian verb with French relier under the Latin one.^[6] Treccani and Sabatini–Coletti take the sense “to tie again” as a new Italian formation from the prefix ri- and legare.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the sense “to tie again” to 1275.^[4] In Dante's Inferno (1300–1313) a serpent winds round a sinner's arms e rilegollo, binding him fast.^[3][9][10]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio uses the verb for tying up loosened branches in a garden, and Davanzati for binding and strengthening a wall.^[10] The bookbinding sense, to sew the sheets of a book and put a cover on it, is first recorded in Galileo, before 1642, who also has rilegatore “bookbinder”.^[3][10] In 1718 G. Bianchini used the verb for setting precious stones.^[3]

The noun rilegatura is older than the bookbinding sense: in 1288 a register of the Servite convent of Florence uses it for strengthening crockery by binding, and it is recorded for bookbinding from 1865.^[3] Today rilegare is the usual word for binding a book, beside the simple legare.^[7]

Timeline

• 1275 – First record, in the sense “to tie again”.^[4]
• 1288 – Rilegatura is used for binding crockery in a Florentine register.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses rilegare in the Inferno.^[3]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses the verb of books, and rilegatore.^[3]
• 1718 – G. Bianchini uses it for setting precious stones.^[3]
• 1865 – Rilegatura “bookbinding” appears in Fanfani's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tie again something that had come undone; to retie: Rilegò le scarpe prima di correre.^[9][5][8][1]
2. To bind a book, sewing or gluing its gatherings and putting a cover on it; also, to rebind an old book.^[9][5][7][1]
3. (goldsmithing) To set a precious stone in metal.^[9][5][7]
4. (literary) To wind round and bind fast.^[9]

Word family

• rilegatore
• rilegatura
• rilegamento
• rilegatrice

Related words

• legare
• rilegato
• Latin religō
• French relier

Usage notes

Old Italian also had rilegare as a variant of relegare “to banish”, as in Dante's la verace corte / che me rilega ne l’etterno essilio (“the true court that banishes me into eternal exile”).^[7][9][2] The TLIO lists it under relegare.^[11] The past participle rilegato is also an adjective, “bound”.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana