spianare

Forms

spianare (first-person singular present spiàno, first-person singular past historic spianài, past participle spianàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian schianare and Old Italian spienare.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin explānāre (“to flatten out; to explain”), formed with ex- on plānus (“flat, plain”).^[3][4][1][5] In Latin the verb meant both “to spread out flat” and “to make clear, expound”, and DELI takes the second as its proper sense.^[5][3] Devoto saw the prefix as durative, Devoto–Oli and Gabrielli as intensive, Sabatini–Coletti as simply forming a verb from the adjective.^[6][7][8][9]

Battisti and Alessio note that the verb continues only in Italy.^[10] In the south and centre a derivative names a flat bread or cake: Neapolitan scanata and the ⟨spyanata⟩ of Teramo and the Marche.^[11][10] The participle noun, Italian spianata, has a counterpart in Spanish explanada, the source of French esplanade.^[12]

Seen from Italian, the verb is formed with s- on piano and -are.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin splanare is recorded at Bologna in 1210.^[3][2] The first Italian record is in the 13th-century Sconfitta di Monteaperto, where the verb means “to pull down, demolish”; the Siena Costituto of 1309–1310 has the sense “to make a surface level by removing its bumps”.^[3][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to level” is the core of the word, used of ground, sand and timber: Leonardo noted that “when the wind blows, it levels the sand” (Quando tira vento spiana la rena).^[2] The intransitive “to become flat” is found in the 14th-century Ottimo commentary on Dante.^[3] In the sense “to explain” the verb followed the Latin of the schools and was used by Jacopone; it is now obsolete.^[10][14][15]

The figurative “to remove obstacles or difficulties” appears in Sannazaro, before 1530, and lives on in spianare la strada (“to smooth the way” for someone).^[3][7] In the kitchen the verb means rolling out dough into a sheet, and spianare il pane is shaping the dough into loaves.^[13][7] Firearms are “levelled” too: spianare il fucile is to bring a gun to the horizontal and aim it.^[13][9][16]

Joking phrases use the levelling image for a beating: spianare le costole or la gobba to someone.^[14][15] The derivatives spianata “level open ground” (before 1348, Giovanni Villani) and spianatoia “pastry board” (1678) are old; the road machine spianatrice dates from 1946.^[3]

Timeline

• 1210 – Medieval Latin splanare is recorded at Bologna.^[3]
• 13th century – Spianare “to demolish” appears in the Sconfitta di Monteaperto.^[3]
• 1309–1310 – The Siena Costituto uses it for levelling a surface.^[3]
• 14th century – The intransitive “to become flat” is found in the Ottimo commentary.^[3]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses spianata for a level open space.^[3]
• Before 1530 – Sannazaro uses the verb for removing difficulties.^[3]
• 1863 – A tutto spiano “without a break, in plenty” is recorded by Fanfani.^[3]
• 1946 – Spianatrice, a levelling machine, appears in Emilio Cecchi.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To level or flatten, making a surface even by removing bumps and differences of height: Hanno spianato il cortile prima di lastricarlo.^[13][7][9]
2. (transitive) To press flat by ironing: spianare le cuciture (to iron the seams flat).^[13][14]
3. (transitive, cooking) To roll out dough into a thin sheet;^[13][7][14] spianare il pane: to divide the dough and shape it into loaves.^[13][7][14]
4. (transitive) To raze, to pull down to the ground: Il terremoto spianò mezzo villaggio.^[13][7][9]
5. (transitive) To level a firearm, bringing it to the horizontal and aiming it at a target.^[13][7][9]
6. (transitive, figurative) To remove obstacles or difficulties;^[13][7][15] spianare la strada a qualcuno: to smooth the way for someone.^[13][7][15]
7. (transitive, archaic) To explain, to make a text clear.^[13][9][14]
8. (intransitive, uncommon) To become flat or less steep: Oltre il ponte la strada spiana.^[7][9][14]
9. (pronominal) spianarsi: to become smooth; of the brow, to lose its frown: spianare la fronte (to brighten up).^[14][15][7]

Word family

• spianamento
• spianata
• spianatoia
• spianatrice
• spiano
• spianatura
• rispianare

Related words

• spianarsi
• piano
• Latin plānus
• French esplanade

Usage notes

The phrase a tutto spiano, “without a pause and in abundance”, is built on the noun spiano, first recorded in 1863.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 872
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3589
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)