vite
vite1 vine
Pronunciation
- /ˈvi.te/[1]
Forms
vite f (plural viti)[1] In the 14th century the word was also written Old Italian vita.[2]
Etymology
The vine is inherited from Latin vītis (“vine; tendril; climbing plant”), continued from the accusative ⟨vītem⟩.[3][4][5][1] The word is panromance: Old Occitan vid, Spanish vid, Portuguese vide, Sardinian bide, Friulian vit, Dalmatian vaita and Aromanian yite.[4][6][7] French uses another word for the plant.[7]
DELI stresses that the Latin noun has nothing to do with vīnum (“wine”), as one might think: it first meant any climbing plant, or the tendril, and only later came to mean the grapevine.[3][4] It belongs with vieō (“to bend, plait”), which also gives vimine.[3][4][8] Nocentini compares Lithuanian vytis (“shoot, rod”), Avestan vaēiti- (“willow branch”) and Old High German wīda (“willow”), the source of German Weide, and for the verb vyti (“to twist, plait”) and Sanskrit व्ययति (vyayati, “to wrap”).[4] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *uh₁i-ti-, a noun in ⟨*-ti-⟩ meaning “weaving”, from a root *weh₁y- (“to twine, wind”).[9][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
DELI's first record is in Jacopone da Todi, who died in 1306: De la vite che ne nasce? / L'uva bella c'omo asce (“What is born of the vine? The fine grape that one gathers”).[3][10] The sense is the climbing shrub with knotty branches, palmate leaves and juicy berries in bunches.[3][5]
Semantic evolution
Dante writes in the Purgatorio of the sun's warmth “that turns to wine, joined to the juice that flows from the vine” (Guarda il calor del sol che si fa vino, / giunto a l'omor che de la vite cola).[10] The Romans knew several kinds of vine, among them the vītis alba, which gave Italian vitalba (old man's beard), recorded at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino.[3]
Many other plants are named after the vine: vite bianca (white bryony), a calque of the Latin name, is recorded in Mattioli in the 16th century, vite del Canadà or vite vergine (Virginia creeper) in 1813, after French vigne vierge, and vite nera (black bryony) in the 16th century.[11][12] The phrase piangere come una vite tagliata (“to weep like a cut vine”, to cry one's eyes out) comes from the sap that runs from vines and some trees when they are pruned.[3][12]
Derivatives include viticcio “tendril” (1287), vitigno “variety of vine” (before 1400, Sacchetti), and the modern viticolo, viticoltore and viticoltura, formed after French models such as viticole (1836).[3]
Timeline
- Late 13th century – Vitalba appears in the Novellino.[3]
- 1287 – Viticcio is recorded in a register of the Servite convent in Florence.[3]
- Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses vite for the grapevine.[3]
- Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses vitigno.[3]
- 1550 – Vasari uses viticcio for an ornament shaped like a tendril.[3]
- 1813 – Vite del Canadà is recorded for the Virginia creeper.[11]
- 1865 – Viticoltura appears in the title of a treatise by L. Centoni.[3]
Meanings
Noun
- The grapevine (Vitis vinifera), a woody climbing plant grown since antiquity for its grapes: Sulla collina il nonno aveva piantato tre filari di viti.[5][12][8]
- A name for various other plants of the Vitaceae or plants that look like the vine, as in vite americana and vite vergine.[5][12][8]
- (botany) Vite: the genus Vitis.[5]
Word family
- vitalba
- viticcio
- vitigno
- viticoltura
- viticoltore
- viticolo
- vitivinicolo
- vitato
- viticchio
- avviticchiare
- vitacea
vite2 screw
Pronunciation
- /ˈvi.te/[1]
Forms
vite f (plural viti)[1]
Etymology
The screw takes its name from the vine, because its thread winds like a vine tendril.[3][4][5][12][8] Nocentini calls it an Italian metaphorical extension, from the likeness to the tendril and its winding movement.[4] Medieval Latin vitis already had this sense in this sense.[5][13]
DEI sees it instead as an adaptation of Old French vis (12th century), from the Latin noun in the sense “tendril”, or from Latin vīteus (“of a vine”).[11] Turkish vida is a borrowing from Italian.[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
DELI and GRADIT date the first record to Dante, 1304–1308, for a small metal rod with a raised spiral that fastens, tightens or joins.[3][5] DEI's first record is in Leonardo da Vinci, and Prati marks the word as Florentine.[11][2]
Semantic evolution
Leonardo writes of “a screw that presses the bellows” (una vite che preme il mantice), and Galileo held the screw to be the first of all machines, because it serves both to move and to hold fast.[10] The vite perpetua or vite senza fine (worm gear) is recorded in Biringuccio in 1540.[11][12] The verb avvitare (to screw in) is recorded in 1863 and svitare (to unscrew) in the 18th century.[4]
In aviation the word has meant, since Marinetti and Azari's Primo dizionario aereo italiano of 1929, a spin, the steep spiral descent of an aircraft, and cadere in vite is recorded in 1931.[3] It is also a full turn of a diver about the vertical axis.[5][12] Giro di vite (a turn of the screw) is used figuratively for a tightening of rules or discipline.[13][14]
Timeline
- 1304–1308 – Dante uses vite for a screw.[3]
- 15th century – Leonardo da Vinci writes of a screw pressing a bellows.[11][10]
- 1540 – Biringuccio records the vite perpetua.[11]
- 1863 – Avvitare is first recorded.[4]
- 1929 – Marinetti and Azari use the word for an aircraft's spin.[3]
- 1931 – Cadere in vite is recorded in Panzini's dictionary.[3]
Meanings
Noun
- A screw: a small rod, usually of steel or brass, with a spiral thread, used to fasten or join things: Per montare lo scaffale servono otto viti e un cacciavite.[5][12][8]
- (aviation) A spin: the steep spiral descent of an aircraft turning about its axis.[5][12][3]
- (diving) A full twist of the diver about the vertical axis.[5][12]
Word family
- avvitare
- svitare
- svitato
- madrevite
- cacciavite
- avvitamento
Related words
Usage notes
A vite means “screw-shaped, spiral” or “fastened with a screw”, as in tappo a vite (screw cap).[12][8] The vite senza fine is a worm gear, and vite femmina is another name for the madrevite, the nut or threaded hole.[12][15][14]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1058
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
- ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
- ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
- ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
- ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
- ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli