vetrice

Forms

vetrice f or m (plural vetrici)^[1][2] The TLIO's forms include Old Italian vetrece and the plural vetricie.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vitex (“chaste tree”), the Tuscan outcome with an -r- that does not belong to the Latin word.^[4][5][1][6] The Latin word is recorded only in prose, so its stressed vowel is uncertain: DELI and Meyer-Lübke find that the Romance forms call for both a long and a short vowel, and Nocentini notes that the dialect outcomes other than Tuscan presuppose a long one.^[4][6][5] Sabatini–Coletti and the GDLI explain the -r- by a popular association with *viētrix, the feminine of viētor (“basket-maker”).^[7][8]

The same word gave Emilian vedga at Bologna, Neapolitan véceta, Occitan veze and Lombard védesc at Sondrio.^[9][6] A document of 1361 from Recanati has Medieval Latin vetica.^[9][6] The origin of vitex is unknown.^[4][5] DELI suggests a link with vieō (“to plait”) and vītis (“vine”), and Nocentini places it in the family of vīmen (“withy”) and vītis, as a plant with pliant shoots.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo, in the Arezzo dialect, in 1282, with the sense “willow”.^[3] DELI's first record is the Ottimo commento on Dante in the 14th century, where willows shade a spring: le vetrici, gli albori vi davano ombra.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word named the willow, especially the osier, whose long flexible shoots were used for basketwork.^[3][4][10] Francesco da Barberino drew a moral from the bending willow (La vetrice che s'inchina), and the vernacular Ovid of Simintendi has willows shading the riverbanks.^[8] Derivatives followed: vetriciaio, a willow bed, in the 14th century, and vetricione, the white willow, in the 16th.^[9]

Today the word is literary: Pascoli and D'Annunzio used it for riverside willows.^[2][1] Gabrielli also gives it for a single osier rod used in wickerwork, and the comparison tremare come una vetrice, to shake hard with cold or fear.^[11]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses vetrice for the willow.^[3]
• 14th century – The Ottimo commento and a vernacular Ovid use the word.^[4][9]
• 14th century – Vetriciaio “willow bed” appears in Veluti.^[9]
• 1544 – Vetricione “white willow” is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany, literary) Willow, salice, especially the osier used for basketwork.^{[1][12][4][2]}
2. (by extension) A pliant willow rod, vimine: un cesto di vetrici.^[13][11]

Word family

• vetriciaio
• vetriciaia
• vetricione

Related words

• vimine
• vite
• Latin vitex

References

1. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
2. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4041
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli