pelle Italian · revision 38264

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 12th century, declaration of Paxia|origins=ine-pro *pel-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈpɛl.le/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pelle''' ''f'' (plural pelli)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian also had [[m|roa-oit|pella]], and an old plural ''le pelle'' beside ''le pelli''.^(GDLI|12, 955)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|pellis|t=skin, hide]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The word is panromance: [[fr|peau]], [[oc|pel]], [[ca|pell]], [[es|piel]], [[sc|peḍḍe]] and [[ro|piele]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Körting 1907) Meyer-Lübke adds [[dlm|pial]], [[fur|piel]] and Engadine [[m|rm|pel]], and notes that in western France and in Gascony the descendants of the word came to mean “bark”.^(REW 1935) Latin passed the word on to [[sga|pell]].^(DEI|2826)

+

+ De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic [[m|itc-pro|*pelni-]] and a Proto-Indo-European [[m|ine-pro|*pel-ni-|t=skin, hide]], related to [[goh|fel]] and [[ang|fell]], from Proto-Germanic [[m|gem-pro|*fel-n-]], and with other suffixes to [[lt|plėnė|t=membrane]].^(de Vaan 2008) He sees behind them a root [[m|ine-pro|*pel-]], perhaps “to strip, to skin”, which is not attested on its own.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini compares the English cognates [[m|en|fell]] and, with a different suffix, [[m|en|film]].^(Nocentini 2010) Devoto stresses that all the related forms have a double /ll/.^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is the sense “tanned animal hide”, in a Tuscan declaration by one Paxia from the end of the 12th century.^(DELI 1999) The skin of the human body follows in Bonvesin da la Riva before 1315, where rose water boasts that it drives diseases out of “sickly skin” (''l'infirmiza pelle''), and in Dante.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|12, 955)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante already used the word for an outer layer or crust of something, and for the skin stretched over the bones of the starving in Purgatory: ''che da l'ossa la pelle s'informava'', “that the skin took its shape from the bones”.^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) By the end of the 14th century Antonio Pucci used it for the body and life itself, the sense of today's ''rischiare la pelle'' and ''salvare la pelle''.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) DEI dates ''salvar la pelle'' to Luca Pulci in the 15th century and ''lasciar la pelle'', to die, to Giambullari in the 16th.^(DEI|2826)

+

+ Many derivatives came through French: ''pellettiere'' and ''pelletteria'' go back to Old French ''pelletier'' (1160) and ''pelleterie'', and ''pellerossa'' is a calque of French ''Peau-Rouge'', although the oldest Italian example, ''pelli rosse'' in an 1828 translation of Cooper's ''Last of the Mohicans'', follows the English ''redskin''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) ''Pelliccia'' is probably the Late Latin ''pellicia'', clothes made of hide.^(DELI 1999) ''Pellagra'' is a Lombard word, first in the Latin title of a Milanese treatise of 1771 and in Italian in 1780, probably ''pelle'' crossed with ''podagra''.^(DELI 1999) Recently the phrase ''sulla propria pelle'', “at one's own expense”, has spread from journalism into common use.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – ''Pelle'' “tanned hide” appears in a Tuscan declaration.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1315 – Bonvesin da la Riva uses it for human skin.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses it for skin and for an outer layer of something.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1388 – Antonio Pucci uses ''pelle'' for life itself.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1483 – Luigi Pulci has the pejorative ''pellaccia''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1780 – ''Pellagra'' is first used in an Italian title.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1828 – ''Pelli rosse'' appears in a translation of Cooper.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|skin]]: the tissue that covers the human body; also its colour or texture, [[carnagione|alt=complexion]]: ''Ha la pelle chiara e si scotta subito.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The outer covering of an animal: ''il serpente cambia pelle'', the snake sheds its skin.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # [[m|en|leather]], tanned [[m|en|hide]]: ''una giacca di pelle'', ''un divano in pelle''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # The [[buccia|alt=peel]] of fruit and vegetables: ''Togli la pelle ai pomodori prima di cuocerli.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # The outer surface or thin layer of something, such as the worked face of a building stone or a coat of plaster.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative, colloquial)'' Life, one's skin: ''rischiare la pelle'', ''salvare la pelle''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) ''Fare la pelle a qualcuno'' is to kill them, ''lasciarci la pelle'' to die.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative, popular)'' A tough or unscrupulous person, a [[pellaccia]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(archaic)'' Outward appearance, as in Dante.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pellaccia]]

+ * [[pellame]]

+ * [[pellaio]]

+ * [[pelletteria]]

+ * [[pellettiere]]

+ * [[pelliccia]]

+ * [[pellicola]]

+ * [[pellerossa]]

+ * [[pellagra]]

+ * [[spellare]]

+ * [[crepapelle]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|pellis]]

+ * [[fr|peau]]

+ * [[en|fell]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Common set phrases: ''pelle d'oca'' (goose flesh), ''a fior di pelle'' (on the surface, ''avere i nervi a fior di pelle'', to be on edge), ''avere la pelle dura'' (to be tough), ''essere pelle e ossa'' (to be skin and bone), ''non stare nella pelle'' (to be bursting with joy or impatience) and ''amici per la pelle'' (inseparable friends).^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ Two minor homographs exist.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) ''Pelle'' was an old Roman measure for liquids, especially oil, of about 82 litres, used until the metric system, a Roman variant of another measure name.^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI|12, 959) And literary ''pelle'', with a closed /e/, is the old contraction of ''per'' and the article ''le''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}