ripa

Forms

ripa f (plural ripe)^[1] An old form is rippa.^[2] Old Neapolitan had the unusual plural ripura, with an ending normally kept for masculine nouns.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rīpa (“riverbank”).^[1][4][5][6] Zingarelli, Sabatini–Coletti and the GDLI treat it as a learned word beside the popular doublet riva.^[7][8][9] Meyer-Lübke instead gives the form with /p/ as the Old Italian and southern outcome, and the one with /v/ as a northern form that entered the standard language.^[10]

The Latin word lives on across Romance: French rive, Old Occitan riba, Spanish riba, Portuguese riba, Sardinian riba, Romansh riva and Dalmatian raipa, and Romanian ripă (“steep place, ravine”).^[4][10][11]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *reipā and Proto-Indo-European *h₁reip-h₂- (“steep slope”), comparing Ancient Greek ἐρείπω (ereípō, “to throw down, fall down”), ἐρίπνη (erípnē, “slope”) and Old Norse rífa (“to tear down”).^[12][1] Wiktionary derives it from the root *h₁reyp- (“to tear, tear down”).^[1] Nocentini takes the Greek words to confirm an original sense “ravine, steep bank”.^[4]

From the Latin adjective rīpārius comes ripario.^[6] The noun ripatica goes back to Medieval Latin ripāticum (“landing toll”), recorded at Spoleto in 772.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Dante's Commedia (1300–1313), with the senses “steep bank of a river or lake” and “embankment of a ditch or ravine”.^[6] In the Inferno boiling pitch ’nviscava la ripa d’ogne parte (“coated the bank on every side”).^[7][13] GRADIT dates the word to 1313–1319.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the Commedia the ripa is also the steep wall between one circle of Hell or one terrace of Purgatory and the next.^[5][13] Francesco da Buti, commenting on Dante in the 14th century, defined it as any cut in the ground.^[6] Old Italian also borrowed Old French rivage as rivaggio and ripaggio (1279).^[6]

Later the word stayed literary or regional beside riva: Leopardi's shepherd hears a song lungo le ripe.^[14][15] Hunters call the birds of shores and marshes uccelli di ripa, and geographers use the word for a sea cliff cut back by the waves.^[14][15][8] It occurs in many place names, from Ripacandida and Ripalta to the old river ports of Rome, Ripa Grande and Ripetta, and DEI notes how common it is in Tuscan place names.^[15][3]

Timeline

• 772 – Medieval Latin ripaticum is recorded at Spoleto.^[6]
• 1279 – Ripaggio appears in a Pisan chronicle.^[6]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses ripa in the Commedia.^[6]
• 1563 – Ripario is recorded in M. Florio.^[6]
• 1671 – Ripatica, the landing toll, appears in an edict on the port of Signa.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) The bank or shore of a river or lake.^{[5][14][7][1]}
2. (literary or regional) A steep place, slope or precipice.^{[5][14][8][15]}
3. In Dante's Commedia, the steep wall between the circles of Hell or the terraces of Purgatory.^[5]
4. The edge of a canal, ditch or field.^[8]
5. (geography) A sea cliff worn back by the waves; a falesia.^[14][8][15]

Word family

• straripare
• straripamento
• ripario
• ripatica
• ripatico
• ripuario
• ripaggio

Related words

• riva
• ripido
• riviera
• Latin rīpa
• French rive

Usage notes

Uccelli di ripa is a hunting term for the wading and other birds of shores and marshes.^[14][7][15] The diminutives are riparella or riperella and ripetta.^[15][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16, 625
3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3260
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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ 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 Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)