tessere

Forms

tessere (first-person singular present tèsso, first-person singular past historic tessétti or (traditional) tessètti or tesséi, past participle tessùto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian forms include tèssare, tèxare, tèxere, tèsere and tièssere.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin texere (“to weave, plait”).^[3][4][5][1] The verb is pan-Romance: French tisser, Occitan teiser, Catalan teixir, Spanish tejer, Portuguese tecer, Sardinian tèssere and Romanian țese.^[4][6] In Piedmont it gives way to the phrase Piedmontese fer la teila (“make the cloth”).^[6]

DELI notes that the Italian derivatives were all formed in Italian, because Latin took its own from the past participle textus; the one exception is Old Italian testore (“weaver”), from Latin textor, recorded at Pisa probably in the first half of the 12th century and the only word for “weaver” in early Pisa and Lucca.^[3][7]

The Latin verb continues Proto-Italic *teksō.^[8][1] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Indo-European *teḱ-s- (“to fashion”), an s-extension of a root seen in Hittite takš- (“to devise”) and in Sanskrit and Avestan verbs meaning “fashion”, and does not rule out Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- (“to fashion”);^[8] Meiser connects it instead with a root seen in Ancient Greek τέχνη (tékhnē, “skill”).^[8] The cognates point to the carpenter's work of cutting and joining timber, and Nocentini and Devoto explain the step to “weave” by huts built of interlaced poles and branches, from which the meaning passed to plaiting fibres.^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the statute of the wool guild of Radicondoli, near Siena, of 1308, which forbids anyone to weave or have woven (né tèxare né fare texere) cloth mixing wool and linen;^[3][10][5] GRADIT dates the word 1304–1308, and DEI and Zingarelli to the 13th century, when tessitore “weaver” is already recorded (1298).^{[3][10][5][11][12]} The sense is to make cloth on the loom, crossing the threads of the warp with those of the weft.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Domenico Cavalca, before 1342, uses the verb for anything put together like a fabric, and Boccaccio, in 1348–1353, for composing with art: queste cose tessendo (“weaving these things”).^[3][13] The sense “compile with care” is recorded in Vincenzio Borghini, before 1580, and “plot, contrive” in Luigi Alamanni in 1548.^[3] Later writers wove dances (Redi, Foscolo) and praises (Segneri): tessere le lodi, to sing someone's praises, is still the commonest figurative use.^[11][13]

The derivatives followed the craft: tessitore “weaver” is recorded in 1298, tessuto “fabric” before 1612, tessitura “weaving” in 1640, and tessile “textile” in 1858.^[3] In modern use football reporters speak of weaving an attack, builders of the framework of a roof, and sailors say a ship tesse when its hull flexes in a heavy sea.^[5][13]

Timeline

• 1298 – Tessitore “weaver” is recorded in Sienese statutes.^[3]
• 1308 – The wool statute of Radicondoli uses tèxare and texere.^[3]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses the verb for things made like a fabric.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for composing with art.^[3]
• 1548 – Luigi Alamanni uses it for plotting.^[3]
• Before 1612 – Tessuto “fabric” is recorded.^[3]
• 1858 – Tessile “textile” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To weave: to make cloth on a loom by crossing the threads of the warp with those of the weft; also without an object: La nonna tesseva il lino d'inverno.^[5][14][12]
2. To make by interlacing flexible materials: tessere un cesto di vimini; of a spider, to spin its web.^[5][14][15]
3. (figurative) To compose or organize with care and skill: tessere un racconto;^[5][14][12] tessere le lodi di qualcuno, to praise someone lavishly.^[5][14][12]
4. (figurative) To plot, contrive: tessere un inganno.^[5][14][15]
5. (sports) To build up a well-planned move in a team game.^[5][14][13]
6. (literary) Of dancers or birds, to move in interlacing paths.^[14][16]
7. (nautical) Of a ship, to flex alternately in its hull under the rolling of a heavy sea.^[5][13]

Word family

• tessile
• tessitore
• tessitura
• tessuto
• testura
• intessere
• contessere
• ritessere

Related words

• testo
• tela
• Latin texō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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
3. ^ 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
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 g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3772
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli