vetro

Forms

vetro m (plural vetri)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian vedro, Old Italian vereo, Old Italian vitro and Old Italian vitrio.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vĭtrum (“glass”).^[3][4][5][1] The same word is French verre, Occitan veire, Sardinian bidru, Romansh vaider and Friulian veri; the DEI calls it pan-Romance except for Romanian.^[6][4][7] Prati derives vetriato and some other words from a Vulgar Latin *vitrium of popular speech.^[8]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain: DELI, GRADIT and Treccani call it unknown, Devoto finds no reliable connections, and the DEI thinks it may be a loan.^{[3][5][9][10][7]} After Szemerényi, de Vaan and Nocentini derive it from Proto-Indo-European *wedro- (“water-like”), that is “transparent”, from the root of the word for water seen also in onda;^[11][4][1] Middle Iranian named glass after water in the same way, as in Persian آبگینه (âbgina, “glass”).^[11][4][1] The ⟨vi-⟩ for older ⟨we-⟩ is found also in Latin vitulus (“calf”).^[11][4] Wiktionary gives another possibility, a source shared with Proto-Germanic *waizdaz (“woad”) and Ancient Greek ἰσάτις (isátis, “woad”): the Latin word also named the woad plant, called after the greenish colour of ancient glass.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Splanamento of the Cremonese poet Patecchio, of the 13th century, and DELI's in Giacomo da Lentini, for the material.^[2][3] Giacomo writes that the sun sends its ray e passa per lo vetro e no lo parte (“and passes through the glass and does not break it”).^[12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for objects made of glass, and for a mirror.^[2] Dante, in the fire of Purgatory, would have thrown himself in un bogliente vetro (“into boiling glass”) to cool down.^[12] The sense “drinking glass” is in Franco Sacchetti, before 1400, “pane of glass” in 1561 and “broken piece of glass” in 1879.^[3] The sense “lens” goes back to Francesco Redi, who invented a quotation about vetri appellati occhiali and gave it to a non-existent Sandro di Pippozzo.^[3] Pulci used glass as a figure for something fragile.^[7]

Several derivatives follow French models: vetrina “shop window” is French vitrine (1836), and vetrificare may follow vitrifier.^[3][4] In Tuscan peasant speech vetrone is melted snow that has frozen again.^[8]

Timeline

• 13th century – First records, in Patecchio and Giacomo da Lentini.^[2][3]
• 14th century – Vetraio “glassworker” in the translation of Seneca's letters.^[3]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses vetro for a drinking glass.^[3]
• 1561 – Alessandro Citolini uses it for a pane of glass.^[3]
• 1612 – Antonio Neri has vetrario and vetrificazione.^[3]
• Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses vetri for spectacle lenses.^[3]
• 1836 – Vetrina “shop window” is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1879 – Tommaseo records vetro for a fragment of glass.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. glass, the hard, usually transparent and brittle material made by melting silica sand with carbonates and oxides.^[5][13][14]
2. An object made of glass, especially an artistic one: una collezione di vetri veneziani.^[5][14]
3. A pane of glass in a window, door or cabinet; by extension the window itself; the glass of a watch.^[5][14]
4. A sharp fragment of glass.^[5][14]
5. Glass waste for recycling.^[14]

Word family

• vetrata
• vetrato
• vetreria
• vetrina
• vetrino
• vetraio
• vetrario
• vetrificare
• vetrificazione
• vetrificante
• vetrinista
• vetrocemento
• vetroceramica
• vetroresina
• vetrocromia

Related words

• invetriare
• vetriola
• vetriolo
• vetrofania
• vetroso
• vitreo
• Latin vitrum
• French verre

Usage notes

Treccani lists the figurative phrases avere la schiena di vetro, to be lazy, and tenere sotto una campana di vetro, to treat with great care.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4042
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
9. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 826
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana