vetta

Forms

vetta f (plural vette)^[1]

Etymology

The usual view is that it is inherited from Latin vitta (“headband, fillet”), the band that held the hair and was worn by priests and sacrificial victims.^[2][3][4][1] How the band became the summit is not clear.^[2][5] Nocentini sees a metonymy: the band was wound round the heads of people and the horns of animals, that is, round the top.^[3] Devoto–Oli say it came to stand for the top of the head, and Sabatini–Coletti go through “head” to “summit”.^[6][7] DEI compares Venetian crona “mountain crest” and English crown.^[8][2]

Nigra derived it instead from Latin vectis (“bar, lever”), with “branch” as the first sense and “summit” a later one.^[2] Körting separated the senses: for him the word in the sense “summit” comes from ēvehō (“to carry up”), and in the sense “rod” from Nigra's etymon.^[9][9]

The Latin word gave Old French vette (“strap”), Occitan veta, Catalan veta and Spanish veta (“strip”),^[3][10] and Sicilian vitta (“strip of cloth”) and Friulian vete.^[10][9] The Latin word is a form of *vīta, from vieō (“to bind, plait”), the verb behind vimine.^{[3][11][1][12]}

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Dante's Purgatorio (1313–1319), where Virgil tells Dante he will see Beatrice di sopra, in su la vetta / di questo monte (above, on the summit of this mountain).^[2][13] Dante also uses vetta for the band, the old sense of vitta.^[2] Zingarelli dates the word before 1303.^[14]

Semantic evolution

Besides the summit of a hill, Old Italian used vetta for the top of a tree and the end of a branch (about 1350, in the vernacular Crescenzi), for a thin twig (14th century), and for the shorter stick of the flail.^[2][8][4] In the nautical language of the 17th century it was a rope of the tackle.^[8][15] In the dialects of central and southern Italy it is a yoke of oxen.^[8][6]

The sense “mountain” itself is recorded in the Milanese press of 1833.^[2] The figurative “first place, position of command” came in the 20th century: Migliorini records it in 1963, and the Corriere della Sera used vetta for vertice “political summit” in 1956.^[2] Conferenza alla vetta was the first name for what is now a summit meeting, incontro al vertice.^[16] Prati notes that vetta is not a popular name of any Italian mountain: names such as Vetta d'Italia are literary and recent.^[5]

Timeline

• Before 1303 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[14]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses vetta for the summit of the mountain of Purgatory.^[2][4]
• c. 1350 – The vernacular Crescenzi uses it for the end of a branch.^[2]
• 14th century – A life of Saint John the Baptist uses it for a thin twig.^[2]
• 1833 – The sense “mountain” appears in the Milanese press.^[2]
• 1956 – The Corriere della Sera uses it for a political summit.^[2]
• 1963 – Migliorini records the sense “first place”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The summit, top or highest point, especially of a mountain, a tree or a building: la vetta del Monte Bianco.^[4][6][17]
2. (mountaineering) A mountain peak; by extension, the mountain itself: scalare le vette dolomitiche.^[14][18]
3. (figurative) First place in a ranking: la squadra è tornata in vetta.^[4][6][7]
4. (figurative, often plural) The height, peak of something: le vette del successo.^[4][6][14]
5. (literary) The end of a branch; a thin twig.^[4][6][7]
6. (agriculture) The shorter of the two sticks of a flail.^[4][6][7]
7. (nautical, uncommon) The hauling part of a tackle.^[4][6][17]
8. (regional, central and southern Italy) A pair of yoked oxen.^[4][6]

Word family

• svettare
• vettaiolo

Related words

• vimine
• Latin vitta

Usage notes

Set phrases include in vetta (at the top), linea di vetta (the line joining the highest peaks of a ridge), libro di vetta (the summit register signed by climbers) and tremare come una vetta (to shake like a leaf).^[14][6][16]

Old Italian had a separate vetta “woman's cap”, Venetian veta (1308), which DEI and the GDLI take from Old French huvette, of Frankish origin.^[8][13] The GDLI also records vetta “water” in an old thieves' jargon.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1051
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4042
9. ^ a b c Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli