veste

Forms

veste f (plural vesti)^[1] The old and popular form is Old Italian vesta, which joined the large class of feminines in -a.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vestis (“clothing, garment”), through its accusative.^[2][5][6][1] According to DELI the Latin word meant clothing in general, and probably at first a way of dressing, while vestīmentum named a particular garment.^[2] The same word survives as Portuguese veste and Sardinian beste; French veste “jacket” is a loan from Italian, and English vest comes from it.^[5][7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *westis, from Proto-Indo-European *wéstis, built on the root *wes- (“to be dressed”).^[8][1][5] Related words are Ancient Greek ἐσθής (esthḗs, “garment”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌹 (wasti, “garment”) and, of the same root, the English verb wear.^[5][1][9] Devoto took the noun as an action noun of the root, which is found as a verb in Indo-Iranian, Tocharian, Greek and Armenian.^[10] The Latin verb vestiō (“to dress”) is formed on the noun, and it gave Italian vestire and vestito.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEI dates the form vesta to the 13th century, in Jacopone da Todi, and has it in the 14th-century Boethius translation and in Dante.^[11] DELI's first record is Dante's vesta (1313–1319) in the general sense of a garment, and GRADIT dates to before 1321 Dante's figurative use for the body that clothes the soul: Cato left at Utica la vesta ch'al gran dì sarà sì chiara (“the garment that on the great day will be so bright”).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named a long garment covering the body from the shoulders down, and in the plural, from the mid-14th century, a person's whole clothing, often marking a rank or office.^[2][12] Dante already used in vesta di for “in the guise of”, the root of the modern figurative senses of appearance and capacity (in veste di sindaco, “as mayor”), which the dictionaries record again from the 19th century.^[2][6] Pulci (before 1484) has both vesta and veste, and the form in -e became the standard one;^[2][13] vesta was still heard in the Tuscan countryside in the 19th century.^[2][13]

By extension veste became any covering, such as the straw casing of a flask (Cellini, before 1571), and in the 20th century the layout and look of a printed book, veste tipografica.^[2][14] Special garments took fixed names: veste da camera, a dressing gown (1686), and veste talare, the black cassock of a Catholic priest (1839).^[2] The word passed into French as veste (1578), a garment worn under the coat, and French passed it on to English vest and German Weste.^[7]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante uses vesta for a garment.^[2]
• Before 1356 – A. Lancia uses the plural for a person's clothing.^[2]
• Before 1484 – L. Pulci uses both vesta and veste.^[2]
• Before 1571 – B. Cellini uses veste for a covering.^[2]
• 1578 – French veste is first recorded.^[7]
• 1686 – Veste da camera “dressing gown” appears in P. Segneri.^[2]
• 1839 – Veste talare “cassock” is recorded.^[2]
• 1877 – Fanfani and Arlìa record the sense “capacity, function”.^[2]
• 1961 – Veste tipografica for the look of a book is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A garment covering the body from the shoulders to the legs, a robe or gown; especially a woman's one-piece dress: una veste di lino chiaro.^[6][4][15]
2. (in the plural) Clothes, all the garments a person wears: vesti da lavoro.^[6][4][1]
3. A covering or casing: la veste di paglia del fiasco.^[6][4][3]
4. (literary, figurative) The body, as the garment of the soul.^[6]
5. (figurative) Outward appearance, guise: in veste di benefattore, posing as a benefactor.^[6][3][1]
6. (figurative) Capacity, official role: parlare in veste di presidente, to speak as chairman.^[6][15]
7. The layout and look of a publication, short for veste tipografica or veste editoriale.^[6][16]

Word family

• vestire
• vestaglia
• vestaglietta
• vestiario
• vestiarista
• sopravveste
• sottoveste
• vestina

Related words

• vestito
• vestimento
• Latin vestis
• French veste

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include veste da camera (dressing gown), veste talare (cassock) and stracciarsi le vesti, to tear one's clothes, a show of grief or outrage.^[6][17][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4038
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
17. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana