anatra

Forms

anatra f (plural anatre)^[1] Old Italian forms include anitra, anetra and the Venetian plural anere.^[2] Venetian has anera.^[3][4] The variant anitra is still used beside anatra.^[5][6][7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *anitra, from Latin anas (“duck”), whose stem was ⟨anat-⟩ or ⟨anit-⟩, with an intrusive r and a change of declension.^{[8][9][10][11]} DEI compares culcitra for classical culcita (“mattress”).^[12] Wiktionary gives the Vulgar Latin form as *anatria.^[1] According to the LEI, Italian with Gallo-Romance and Raetian rests on a base *anata or *anita, while the classical anas continues in southern France and the Iberian peninsula.^[13] Medieval Latin anadra is already recorded in Venice in 1044.^[8]

The same word is Old French ane, Occitan anede, Catalan ànec, Spanish ánade and Portuguese adem “shelduck”.^[9] Southern Italian uses other words for the duck.^[12]

anas goes back to Proto-Italic *anati- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₂-ti- (“duck”).^[14][1] Its cognates include Ancient Greek νῆσσα (nêssa), Lithuanian ántis, Russian утка (útka), Old High German anut and German Ente.^[14][9][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century, with the sense of the water bird.^[2] DELI's first Tuscan record is the translation of the Tesoro, late in the 13th century, and Dante uses the form anitra before 1321.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense, and Tommaseo records far l'anatra, to waddle like a duck, and the old phrase trarre all'anatre, to be in great danger.^[15] Treccani likewise compares someone who walks swaying to a duck.^[7]

The duckling was anitroccolo in 1344, in the Libro della Mensa, and anatroccolo by 1863.^[8] Anatrella is a heraldic duck without beak or feet (1892), and the zoological anatide (1913) comes from the New Latin family name Anatidae.^[8][9] Modern breeds and species have set names: anatra domestica, selvatica, muta or muschiata and mandarina.^[10][16] The journalistic anatra zoppa translates English lame duck, an official whose power is only nominal.^[5][16]

Timeline

• 1044 – Medieval Latin anadra is recorded in Venice.^[8]
• 1175–1200 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur have the first Italian record.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The Tesoro translation has anatra.^[8]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the form anitra.^[8]
• 1344 – Anitroccolo “duckling” is recorded.^[8]
• 1424 – Old Venetian anera is recorded.^[4]
• 1892 – Anatrella is recorded as a heraldic term.^[8]
• 1913 – Anatide is first recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A duck: a web-footed water bird of the family Anatidae, with a broad flat bill, kept for its meat, and also its meat.^{[10][5][6][7][1]}
2. In everyday use, the female of the mallard (germano reale).^[16][6]
3. (zoology, capitalised) Anatra, the genus Anas.^[10]
4. (journalism) anatra zoppa: a lame duck, an official whose power is only nominal, for example while a successor waits to take office.^[5][16]

Word family

• anatroccolo
• anatrella
• anatide
• anatraia
• anatrare

Related words

• anitra
• Latin anas
• German Ente

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
4. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 186
13. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1055
14. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli