velluto

Forms

velluto m (plural velluti)^[1] As an adjective it has the forms velluta, velluti, vellute.^[1] Old forms of the noun include vegluto, veludo, veluto, vigliuto and viluto.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin villūtus (“hairy, shaggy”), an adjective of the 7th century found in glosses as a synonym of Latin hirsūtus.^[3][4][5][1] It is formed from villus (“tuft of hair”) with the adjective suffix -ūtus, and that noun is probably a dialect variant of vellus (“fleece”).^[3][1][6] The adjective came first in Italian, and the noun for the cloth is the adjective used as a noun.^[4][7][8] The same Late Latin word gave French velu, Occitan velut, Spanish velludo and Portuguese velludo, all meaning “hairy”.^[4][9] English velvet comes instead from Old French veluotte, a diminutive of the French word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective, “hairy, shaggy”, is first in Dante (before 1313), whose Virgil grips the shaggy sides of Lucifer (appigliò sé a le vellute coste).^{[5][10][2][3]} The noun for the cloth appears as vegluto in the Libro di Nesone (1319), for a velvet purse.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The account books of the Peruzzi company record velluto in 1338, and the GDLI quotes them for four pieces of velvet made in Florence in 1333;^[3][2][11] Boccaccio's Decameron furnishes Saladin's bed with velvets and cloth of gold.^[3][2][11] Galileo noted that the cut silk of figured velvet looks darker than the uncut, because of the shadows between the hairs.^[2][11]

The adjective stayed in literary use for hairy animals and, in Luigi Alamanni, for the soft, downy flower of the amaranth;^[10][12] fior velluto is still the amaranth.^[10][12] The noun took figurative senses: a soft, smooth surface (1690, Segneri), and through the derivative vellutato a warm colour (1612) or a soft sound.^[3] In zoology it is the skin over the antlers of deer.^[5][1]

The phrases camminare sul velluto and giocare sul velluto are French (marcher sur le velours, 1740), and French also gave the verb vellutare in the textile sense (velouter, 1680) and probably the salsa vellutata.^[3] English borrowed the Italian word as vellute in 1561, a rare word.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1313 – Dante uses the adjective velluto “shaggy”.^[5]
• 1319 – Vegluto is recorded for the cloth in the Libro di Nesone.^[3]
• 1338 – The Peruzzi account books record velluto.^[3]
• 1444 – G. Morelli uses vellutato for a cloth with a soft pile.^[3]
• 1561 – English vellute is recorded.^[13]
• 1690 – Segneri uses velluto for a soft surface.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. velvet: a fabric of silk, cotton, wool or synthetic fibre with a short, dense, soft pile on the right side: pantaloni di velluto a coste.^[5][7][12]
2. A garment made of velvet.^[5][8]
3. (figurative) Anything soft and smooth: Questo gattino ha il pelo che è un velluto.^[5][8]
4. (zoology) The skin covering the horns of giraffes and the antlers of deer.^[5][1]

Adjective

1. (literary) Hairy, shaggy.^[5][7][12]
2. (literary) Of a plant or flower, covered with fine soft hairs.^[5][10]
3. (archaic) Of cloth, with a raised soft pile.^[5][7]

Word family

• vellutato
• vellutare
• vellutino
• vellutatura

Related words

• villo
• vello
• Latin villus
• French velours

Usage notes

Camminare or andare sul velluto is to proceed without obstacles, and giocare sul velluto to play without risk;^[7][14][12] pugno di ferro in guanto di velluto is firmness under gentle manners, and rivoluzione di velluto the bloodless change in Czechoslovakia in 1989.^[7][14][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 d 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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana