There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zendaletto, one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
zendaletto has developed meanings and uses in subjects including
<Italian regional (Venice) zendaletto large square shawl (1755 or earlier as zendaetto) <zendale (also zenda), variant of zendado thin rich silken material (see sendaln.) + ‑etto‑etsuffix1…
<Italian regional (Venice) zendaletto large square shawl (1755 or earlier as zendaetto) <zendale (also zenda), variant of zendado thin rich silken material (see sendaln.) + ‑etto‑etsuffix1.
Notes
Specific senses
Sense 2 is not attested in Italian. It probably reflects confusion with Italian regional (Venice) sandaletto boat smaller than a gondola (19th cent. or earlier; <sandalo (in Venice) flat-bottomed boat used to transport cargo (14th cent.; <Byzantine Greekσάνδαλις<σάνδαλονsandaln.1 + ‑ις‑idsuffix2, with reference to the shape of the boat) + ‑etto‑etsuffix1). There is no evidence to support the suggestion that the ‘gondola’ sense developed from a specific use of zendaletto to denote a long piece of cloth falling from the back of the hood of a gondola into the water.
Specific forms
The form zendaletta (see zendaletta at β forms) probably reflects uncertainty about the value of unstressed final vowels in Romance loanwords.
Meaning & use
1.
1789–
Chiefly with reference to 18th-cent. Venice: a large shawl or veil of a type typically worn by women to cover the head and shoulders, sometimes being supported on a wire frame or headdress. Now rare (chiefly historical or archaic).
1789
A Venetian lady's mode of appearance in her zendalet, without which nobody stirs out of their house in a morning. It consists of a full black silk petticoat..flounced with gauze... A skeleton wire upon the head,..over it a large piece of black mode or persian, so as to shade the face like a curtain.
H. L. Piozzi, Observations Journey Francevol. I. 184
1795
The Bourgeoise universally wear the zendalet, a piece of black silk, with which they cover their heads; and which, crossing before, is finally tied behind their waists.
J. Trusler, Habitable World Describedvol. XVIII. xxxii. 181
a1816
In Zendalet or hat, and dress that cover'd like a pall.
J. McHenry in Journal Rutgers Univ. Library (1945) June 52
1821
The black veil, worn by the ladies, was called zendal, or zendaletto.
London Magazine January 14/2
1910
Over their heads they fasten that zendaletto of white lace, which inwreathes the waist, the shoulders, and the smile.
translation of P. Monnier, Venice in 18th Century iv. 57
1920
It was torn from a zendaletto, such as the women wear on the isle of Zanthe.
N. Gallizier, Leopard Princei. xiv. 103
2006
Historical etchings show the voluminous veil known as the nizioleta or zendaleto that women wrapped around their heads and bodies in a figure-of-eight.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
iːfleece
ihappy
ɪkit
ɛdress
atrap, bath
ɑːstart, palm, bath
ɒlot
ɔːthought, force
ʌstrut
ʊfoot
uːgoose
əletter
əːnurse
ɪənear
ɛːsquare
ʊəcure
eɪface
ʌɪpride
aʊmouth
əʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ãgratin
ɒ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
ifleece, happy
ɪkit
ɛdress
ætrap, bath
ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
ɑrstart
ɔcloth, thought
ɔrnorth, force
ʊfoot
ugoose
əstrut, comma
ərnurse, letter
ɪ(ə)rnear
ɛ(ə)rsquare
ʊ(ə)rcure
eɪface
aɪpride
aʊmouth
oʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ɑ̃gratin
æ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
gguy
jjay
yyore
chchore
khloch
shshore
ththaw
dhthee
zhbeige
Vowels
atrap
ahpalm
airsquare
arstart
arrcarry (British only)
awthought
ayface
a(ng)gratin
edress
eefleece
eerdeer
errmerry
ikit
ighpride
irrmirror
olot (British only)
ohgoat
oogoose
oorcure
orforce
orrsorry (British only)
owmouth
oyvoice
o(ng)salon
ustrut
uhletter
urnurse
urrhurry
uufoot
Forms
Variant forms
α.
1700s–1800s
zendalet
β.
1700s–1900s
zendaletto
1800s
zendaletta
2000s–
zendaleto
Frequency
zendaletto typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zendaletto is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of zendaletto, n., 1780–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
Decade
Frequency per million words
1780
0.016
1790
0.014
1800
0.011
1810
0.0099
1820
0.008
1830
0.0016
1840
0.0009
1850
0.0009
1860
0.0003
1870
0.0002
1880
0.0002
1890
0.0002
1900
0.0005
1910
0.0005
1920
0.0005
1930
0.0006
1940
0.0006
1950
0.0005
1960
0.0004
1970
0.0002
1980
0.0002
1990
0.0002
2000
0.0002
2010
0.0002
zendaletto, n. was revised in June 2018.
zendaletto, n. was last modified in September 2024.