vaio

Forms

vaio (feminine vaia, masculine plural vai, feminine plural vaie)^[1] As a noun vaio is masculine, plural vai.^[2][3] Old forms include varo for both the adjective and the fur, with an old feminine plural le vare.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin varius (“spotted, variegated”), a word used in Latin of the skin of people and the coats of animals.^[5][6][7][1] Through the loss of /r/ before /j/ it is the popular doublet of the learned vario.^[6][1] The fur and the heraldic fur are the adjective used as a noun, after their colour.^[5][2][8][1] DEI compares the Latin varia, the name of a panther in Pliny.^[9]

The same word is Old French vair, Occitan vair and Catalan vayr, which also took the senses “variegated” and “grey fur”.^[6][10] Prati and DELI hold that vaiato and vaiolato are formed from the Italian adjective rather than from the Latin verb for “to variegate”.^[5]

The origin of the Latin adjective is unknown.^[11][1] De Vaan tentatively suggests Proto-Italic *wasios, sharing a root with vafer (“sly”), or a link with Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to let, leave”), but finds neither convincing.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fur is the earlier sense, recorded in the second half of the 13th century;^[6][7][5] DELI cites the Fiore, and Giordano da Pisa in 1306 complains that every shopkeeper is seen dressed in vai and fine cloth.^[6][7][5] The adjective, of olives and grapes that are turning dark as they ripen, is first recorded in the Italian translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi, about 1350.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages vaio, the winter coat of the Siberian squirrel, was a costly fur that marked magistrates, doctors and orders of knighthood;^[8][4] Boccaccio has a man come back tutto coperto di pelli di vai, and Vasari describes a physician's red cap lined with vai.^[8][4] Before 1321 Dante uses it in heraldry, for the fur made of rows of small silver and blue bell shapes.^[5] Today the fur is more often called by the French name petit-gris.^[7][2]

The adjective kept its farming sense in Tuscany, where olives and grapes become vaie as they ripen, and was widened to dark grey or brown and to a pale colour spotted with dark: Pascoli writes of schiene vaie like a water snake's, and D'Annunzio of ghiande vaie.^[4][8][7] Cennini already used varo as a noun for a colour mixed from white and black.^[4]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – vaio “grey squirrel fur” is first recorded.^[6][7]
• 1306 – Giordano da Pisa mentions shopkeepers dressed in vai.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses vaio in heraldry.^[5]
• About 1350 – The adjective appears in the Italian Crescenzi, of ripening fruit.^[5]
• 1940 – vaiato, of a shield covered with vair in other tinctures, is recorded in heraldry.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Tuscan, literary) Turning dark, almost black, of fruit close to ripeness such as grapes, olives or plums.^[7][2][8]
2. (literary) Dark grey; also pale with dark spots, dappled: un cane dal pelo vaio.^{[7][12][3][8]}

Noun

1. The grey fur from the winter coat of the Siberian squirrel, now usually called French petit-gris, once worn by magistrates and high dignitaries.^[7][2][12]
2. (heraldry) vair, the fur shown as rows of silver bell shapes on a blue field.^[7][2][8]
3. (archaic) A garment or cloak made of this fur; also the squirrel itself.^[12][3][13]
4. The dark colour described by the adjective.^[8][13]

Word family

• vaiato
• vaiaio
• invaiare
• vaieggiare
• contravaio

Related words

• vario
• Latin varius
• French vair

Usage notes

A separate regional word vaio is used in parts of the Veneto for a small, narrow valley between steep walls and for the torrent that runs through it; it is recorded from 1961 and comes from Vulgar Latin *valleus, from Latin vallis (“valley”).^[7][4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 628
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f 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 k 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3977
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli