rete Italian · revision 39196

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=12th century (form rei)|origins=itc-pro *rēti-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈre.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rete''' ''f'' (plural reti)^(Wiktionary)

+ Earlier forms include [[roa-oit|rei]], [[m|roa-oit|rede]], [[m|roa-oit|rèa]] and [[m|roa-oit|ride]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GDLI|15, 918) The southern dialect word [[nap|rezza]] continues the Latin plural ''rētia''.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|rēte|t=net]], neuter, and the feminine and masculine [[m|la|rēte|alt=rētem]] that Latin also used.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) The word is pan-Romance except in Romanian: [[fro|roit]], [[fr|rets]] (now disused), [[oc|ret]], [[es|red]], [[pt|rede]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(DEI|3234)

+

+ The origin of the Latin word is obscure, and it may be a loan.^(DELI 1999)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*rēti-]] and, after Niedermann, an original masculine [[m|la|*rētis]] with a neuter plural [[m|la|rētia]], from which the neuter singular was back-formed.^(de Vaan 2008) A link with [[la|rārus|t=thin, rare]] has been given up on formal grounds;^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Baltic words such as [[lt|rėtis|t=sieve]] could point to a root [[ine-pro|*ret-]], but the isolated, purely nominal word may equally be borrowed, perhaps from a Semitic source like [[hbo|רֶשֶׁת|tr=rešet|t=net]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Nocentini and GRADIT date the word to the 12th century in the form ''rei''.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) DELI's first record is Dante's ''Commedia'' (1313–1319), for a device of rope or thread knotted into a mesh to catch fish, birds or other animals; the northern form ''rede'' is used in rhyme in the sonnets of Onesto da Bologna at the end of the 13th century.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Figurative senses are as old as Dante, “snare, deceit”, and Boccaccio's “ambush”.^(DELI 1999) The net for the hair (''reticella'') is in Giovanni Villani, and Vasari (1550) used ''rete'' for any netting and for a grid of crossing lines; the idea of a system of linked points followed in 1681.^(DELI 1999) DEI dates the network of a city's streets to the 20th century.^(DEI|3234) From the network of roads and railways the word passed to electrical, telephone, radio and television networks, and to computer networks.^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ In football ''rete'' was first the net behind the goal, then by 1913 the goal itself, and, from the late 1930s a goal scored, in competition with ''goal''.^(DELI 1999) The tennis and volleyball net is recorded in 1953.^(DELI 1999) In cookery and anatomy ''rete'' is the caul or omentum used to wrap pork liver, already in the 14th-century ''Libro della cucina''.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3235) Learned derivatives came straight from Latin: ''reticolo'', ''reticolato'' and ''retina'', the last first used by Constantine the African in the 11th century.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th century – The form ''rei'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Late 13th century – Onesto da Bologna rhymes on ''rede''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1313–1319 – Dante uses ''rete'' for a hunting or fishing net and for a snare.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 14th century – ''Rete'' names the caul in the ''Libro della cucina''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1550 – Vasari uses it for netting and for a grid of lines.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1913 – ''Rete'' stands for the goal in a football report in the ''Resto del Carlino''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1953 – The tennis and volleyball net is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|net]] of knotted thread or cord for catching fish, birds or other animals: ''rete da pesca''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A trap, [[m|en|snare]]; a lure: ''cadere nella rete''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Any [[m|en|mesh]] or netting used to enclose, protect or hold: wire fencing, a string shopping bag, a hairnet, the sprung base of a bed.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(sport)'' The net of a goal; the goal itself; a goal scored: ''segnare due reti''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Also the net across a tennis or volleyball court.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A [[m|en|network]] of lines, routes, channels or connections: ''rete stradale'', ''rete ferroviaria'', ''rete elettrica''; a sales network.^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GDLI|Suppl. 2009)

+ # A broadcasting network, a television channel: ''a reti unificate''.^(Wiktionary)^(GDLI|Suppl. 2009)

+ # ''(computing)'' A computer network, ''la Rete'', the [[Internet]]: ''cercare in rete''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' A network of blood vessels or nerves.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[retata]]

+ * [[reticella]]

+ * [[reticolato]]

+ * [[reticolo]]

+ * [[retiforme]]

+ * [[retina]]

+ * [[retinare]]

+ * [[retinico]]

+ * [[retino]]

+ * [[irretire]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[retare]]

+ * [[retato]]

+ * [[rezza]]

+ * [[la|rēte]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Senza rete'', literally “without a safety net” as in the circus, means taking a risk without protection.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}