incinto Italian · revision 38377

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=before 1306, Jacopone da Todi|origins=la inciēns}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /inˈt͡ʃin.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''incinto''' (feminine incinta, masculine plural incinti, feminine plural incinte)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The feminine [[incinta]], the usual form, continues [[inh|la-lat|incinctus|alt=incincta|t=pregnant]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(REW 1935) The Late Latin word reshaped the classical [[la|inciens|alt=inciēns|t=big with young]], a word of animal breeders, by folk etymology, as if it were the participle of [[m|la|incingō|t=to gird]] with the negative prefix [[m|la|in-]], “without a belt”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) Isidore of Seville (before 636) already explains it so: “incincta, id est sine cinctu; quia praecingi fortiter uterus non permittit” (“ungirded, that is without a belt, because the womb does not allow itself to be tightly girded”).^(DELI 1999) GRADIT and Treccani suggest instead that pregnant women wore a belt, so that the word kept the sense “girded”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ The same word is [[fr|enceinte]], [[pro|encencha]] and [[es|encinta]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(DEI|1988) Nocentini and DEI connect the classical word with [[grc|ἔγκυος|tr=énkuos|t=pregnant]], from [[m|grc|κυέω|tr=kuéō|t=to be pregnant]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1988) De Vaan accepts the link with the root [[ine-pro|*ḱuH-|t=to swell]] but notes that its form is disputed.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Used as a participle, the masculine form, meaning “girded”, belongs to the obsolete verb [[incingere]], from [[m|la|incingō]].^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record of the feminine is Jacopone da Todi (before 1306): “incinta si trovò la pulzelletta” (“the young maiden found herself with child”), of the Virgin Mary.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|7, 683)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Giovanni Villani writes of a mother who “rimase incinta”, “became pregnant”, after the death of the father Aeneas.^(GDLI|7, 683) In 1581 Filippo Sassetti, writing from Madrid, mocked the Florentine scholars who looked for the origin of the word in pregnant ewes, and pointed out that the word also lived on in Castilian.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Because only women become pregnant, the masculine ''incinto'' is used only jokingly, of a man with a large belly.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) The participle ''incinto'' “girded, clad”, used by Matteo Maria Boiardo, is now rare.^(GDLI|7, 683)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''Mettere incinta'' means to make a woman pregnant.^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI|7, 683)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 636 – Isidore of Seville explains Latin ''incincta'' as “without a belt”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses ''incinta''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1581 – Filippo Sassetti discusses the origin of the word in a letter from Madrid.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of a woman, [[m|en|pregnant]]: ''È incinta di cinque mesi.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(humorous, masculine)'' Of a man, having a large belly: ''Con quella pancia sembri incinto.''^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(rare, literary)'' Girded, surrounded: past participle of ''incingere''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI|7, 683)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cingere]]

+ * [[cinto]]

+ * [[la|inciens]]

+ * [[fr|enceinte]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Rimanere incinta'' (“to become pregnant”) and ''mettere incinta'' are the usual phrases.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The feminine is also a noun, ''un'incinta'', a pregnant woman.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) A separate ''incinta'', a strake of planking along a ship's hull, comes from the participle in the sense “girded” and is recorded from the 18th century;^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|1988)^(GDLI|7, 683) DEI compares French ''préceinte''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|1988)^(GDLI|7, 683) The GDLI also records an obsolete noun ''incinto'' “belt”, a variant of ''cinto''.^(GDLI|7, 683)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}