vite Italian · revision 38207

+ {{homograph|1|vine}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1306, Jacopone da Todi|origins=ine-pro *weh₁y-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈvi.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vite''' ''f'' (plural viti)^(Wiktionary)

+ In the 14th century the word was also written [[roa-oit|vita]].^(Prati 1951|1058)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The vine is [[inh|la|vītis|t=vine; tendril; climbing plant]], continued from the accusative ⟨vītem⟩.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The word is panromance: [[pro|vid]], [[es|vid]], [[pt|vide]], [[sc|bide]], [[fur|vit]], [[dlm|vaita]] and [[rup|yite]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907) French uses another word for the plant.^(Körting 1907)

+

+ DELI stresses that the Latin noun has nothing to do with [[m|la|vīnum|t=wine]], as one might think: it first meant any climbing plant, or the tendril, and only later came to mean the grapevine.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) It belongs with [[m|la|vieō|t=to bend, plait]], which also gives [[vimine]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Nocentini compares [[lt|vytis|t=shoot, rod]], [[ae|vaēiti-|t=willow branch]] and [[goh|wīda|t=willow]], the source of [[de|Weide]], and for the verb [[m|lt|vyti|t=to twist, plait]] and [[sa|व्ययति|tr=vyayati|t=to wrap]].^(Nocentini 2010) De Vaan reconstructs [[ine-pro|*uh₁i-ti-]], a noun in ⟨*-ti-⟩ meaning “weaving”, from a root [[m|ine-pro|*weh₁y-|t=to twine, wind]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==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”).^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) The sense is the climbing shrub with knotty branches, palmate leaves and juicy berries in bunches.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==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'').^(GDLI) 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''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ 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 [[fr|vigne vierge]], and ''vite nera'' (black bryony) in the 16th century.^(DEI)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) 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.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ 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).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 13th century – ''Vitalba'' appears in the ''Novellino''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1287 – ''Viticcio'' is recorded in a register of the Servite convent in Florence.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses ''vite'' for the grapevine.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses ''vitigno''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1550 – Vasari uses ''viticcio'' for an ornament shaped like a tendril.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1813 – ''Vite del Canadà'' is recorded for the Virginia creeper.^(DEI)

+ * 1865 – ''Viticoltura'' appears in the title of a treatise by L. Centoni.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The grapevine (''Vitis vinifera''), a woody [[m|en|climbing plant]] grown since antiquity for its grapes: ''Sulla collina il nonno aveva piantato tre filari di viti.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A name for various other plants of the [[m|en|Vitaceae]] or plants that look like the vine, as in ''vite americana'' and ''vite vergine''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(botany)'' ''Vite'': the genus ''Vitis''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vitalba]]

+ * [[viticcio]]

+ * [[vitigno]]

+ * [[viticoltura]]

+ * [[viticoltore]]

+ * [[viticolo]]

+ * [[vitivinicolo]]

+ * [[vitato]]

+ * [[viticchio]]

+ * [[avviticchiare]]

+ * [[vitacea]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|screw}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|attested=1304–1308, Dante|origins=la vītis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈvi.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vite''' ''f'' (plural viti)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The screw takes its name from the vine, because its thread winds like a vine tendril.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Nocentini calls it an Italian metaphorical extension, from the likeness to the tendril and its winding movement.^(Nocentini 2010) [[la-med|vitis]] already had this sense in this sense.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ DEI sees it instead as an adaptation of [[fro|vis]] (12th century), from the Latin noun in the sense “tendril”, or from [[la|vīteus|t=of a vine]].^(DEI) [[tr|vida]] is a borrowing from Italian.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==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.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) DEI's first record is in Leonardo da Vinci, and Prati marks the word as Florentine.^(DEI)^(Prati 1951|1058)

+

+ ==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.^(GDLI) The ''vite perpetua'' or ''vite senza fine'' (worm gear) is recorded in Biringuccio in 1540.^(DEI)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The verb ''avvitare'' (to screw in) is recorded in 1863 and ''svitare'' (to unscrew) in the 18th century.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ 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.^(DELI 1999) It is also a full turn of a diver about the vertical axis.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) ''Giro di vite'' (a turn of the screw) is used figuratively for a tightening of rules or discipline.^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses ''vite'' for a screw.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 15th century – Leonardo da Vinci writes of a screw pressing a bellows.^(DEI)^(GDLI)

+ * 1540 – Biringuccio records the ''vite perpetua''.^(DEI)

+ * 1863 – ''Avvitare'' is first recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1929 – Marinetti and Azari use the word for an aircraft's spin.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1931 – ''Cadere in vite'' is recorded in Panzini's dictionary.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|screw]]: a small rod, usually of steel or brass, with a spiral [[m|en|thread]], used to fasten or join things: ''Per montare lo scaffale servono otto viti e un cacciavite.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(aviation)'' A [[m|en|spin]]: the steep spiral descent of an aircraft turning about its axis.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(diving)'' A full twist of the diver about the vertical axis.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[avvitare]]

+ * [[svitare]]

+ * [[svitato]]

+ * [[madrevite]]

+ * [[cacciavite]]

+ * [[avvitamento]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vimine]]

+ * [[vino]]

+ * [[la|vitis]]

+ * [[la|vieo]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''A vite'' means “screw-shaped, spiral” or “fastened with a screw”, as in ''tappo a vite'' (screw cap).^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The ''vite senza fine'' is a worm gear, and ''vite femmina'' is another name for the ''madrevite'', the nut or threaded hole.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}