sottile

Forms

sottile (plural sottili, superlative sottilissimo)^[1] The oldest texts have Old Italian sotile, Old Italian sotil, Old Italian soctile and the northern Old Italian setil.^[2][3] Suttile is an old form.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin subtīlis (“fine, thin”).^[6][7][1] Nocentini lists it as pan-Romance: Old French sotil, Old Occitan sotil, Catalan sotil, Spanish sutil, Portuguese sotil, Sardinian suttile and Romanian subțire.^[6][3] DELI, however, calls the Italian word learned.^[8]

The Latin word was first said of thread and was a weavers' term, from the phrase sub (“under”) tēla (“web, warp”): it meant a thread passing under the warp.^{[6][7][9][10]} DELI glosses it as “passing through the cloth”.^[8] Devoto suggests a form *sub-t(er)-ilis with the usual suffix -ilis of adjectives made from nouns.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Splanamento of Patecchio, written at Cremona in the first half of the 13th century.^[2] DELI's first record, with the sense “of little thickness”, is Gallo da Pisa, about 1288.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Sutilmente “with acumen” is in Ristoro d'Arezzo (before 1282), and Dante uses sottile for a mind able to grasp every nuance (1293–1294).^[8] Old Italian also used it of thin bodies, of a faint or high voice, of a difficult argument, and of something fragile.^[2] Jacopone uses it for “cunning”, Giamboni for “light”, and Boccaccio for “meagre”, as in sottilissime spese, “very scanty spending”.^[5][12] Crescenzi's translation (c. 1350) has the sense “pure, fresh, light”, said of air.^[8] Duns Scotus was the dottor sottile, “the subtle doctor”.^[2][13]

Boccaccio's barca sottile is a light, fast boat, and naviglio sottile became the collective name of small, fast warships.^[9][13] Mal sottile, named after the thinness of its sufferers, was pulmonary tuberculosis;^[9][13] Gozzano writes Nell'aprile morì di mal sottile, “in April she died of consumption”.^[9][13] German borrowed the naval sense in 1461 and the word for “thin” in 1472–1473.^[14]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – Patecchio uses sottile at Cremona.^[2]
• Before 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo has sutilmente “with acumen”.^[8]
• c. 1288 – Gallo da Pisa uses sottile for “thin”.^[8]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses it for a penetrating mind.^[8]
• 14th century – Sottilizzare “to split hairs” is in the Ottimo commento.^[8]
• c. 1350 – Crescenzi's translation uses it for pure, light air.^[8]
• 1461 – German borrows the word for fast warships.^[14]
• 1928 – Sottilizzazione is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. thin: of little thickness or diameter: un sottile strato di neve.^[7][13][15]
2. Of the body: slender, slim: polsi sottili.^[7][13][15]
3. (figurative) Of air, wind or scent: light, fresh and penetrating: aria sottile.^[7][13][12]
4. (figurative) Of a sound or voice: faint and high-pitched.^[7][13][16]
5. (figurative) Of the senses: keen, sharp: un olfatto sottile.^[7][13][15]
6. (figurative) Of the mind or reasoning: subtle, acute, perceptive; also over-fine, hair-splitting.^{[7][13][15][12]}
7. (nautical) Of warships: small, light and fast.^[7][13]
8. (archaic) Scanty, meagre.^[7][12][16]

Noun

1. The thin part of something; in andare per il sottile or guardare per il sottile, to be overparticular.^[16][15][17]

Word family

• sottigliezza
• sottilizzare
• sottilmente
• sottigliare
• assottigliare
• assottigliamento
• sottilizzazione
• sottiletta
• sottilità
• ultrasottile

Related words

• tela
• Latin subtilis

Usage notes

Old Italian had a minor homograph sottile “base, vile”, in Guinizelli and Buccio di Ranallo: the TLIO sees a calque on Old Occitan sotil in this sense, and the GDLI derives it from that word, probably from sotiran (“base”).^[2][18]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3565
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
18. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 572