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Flessibile

A common Italian workshop name for a handheld angle grinder used with cutting, grinding, sanding, and diamond discs in stone carving.

Short Definition

An Italian workshop term for a handheld angle grinder.

Difficulty

Intermediate

Language Origin

Italian

Pronunciation

fles-SEE-bee-leh

Flessibile is a common Italian workshop name for the handheld angle grinder. The term is specifically indexed in the Pietrasanta interviews of Le voci del marmo.

It overlaps with smerigliatrice angolare, the formal technical term, and with the colloquial frullino used in some workshops.

Etymology

Italian flessibile, literally “flexible”; established workshop usage for an angle grinder.

Sculptor Notes

This synonym is worth preserving because it is exactly the sort of word an English-speaking sculptor may hear in an Italian studio. Knowing that flessibile, frullino, and smerigliatrice angolare can refer to closely related tools prevents needless confusion.

References

https://levocidelmarmo.sns.it/lista_times.php