anta

anta¹ door leaf; pilaster

Pronunciation

• /ˈan.ta/^[1]

Forms

anta f (plural ante)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the door leaf and the pilaster is inherited from Latin antae (“square pilasters, doorposts”), a Latin noun used mostly in the plural.^[2][3][4][1] In the sense “door leaf, window shutter” it spread mostly through the northern dialects, Lombard above all, and came into standard Italian from them in the 19th century.^[2][3] DEI traces the literary word to Emilian.^[5] In the architectural sense “pilaster” it is learned: it is borrowed from Latin antae, as is French ante (from 1547).^[6][2]

The LEI finds the original sense “doorpost” kept above all in the southern dialects, and the sense “shutter, door leaf” in the northern ones.^[6] The Latin word lives on in Friulian ànte, Romansh anta and Sardinian anta, and in the dialects of Sicily, Calabria, Piedmont and Lombardy;^[6][7] Venetian has lanta, with the article joined to the noun.^[6][7] In Sicily and Calabria paranta shows the influence of Ancient Greek παραστάς (parastás), a word of the same meaning.^[5]

Latin antae goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂énHteh₂ (“doorpost”).^[8][1] Its cognates are Sanskrit आता (ā́tā, “door frame”), Old Armenian դրանդի (drandi, “doorpost, threshold”) and Old Norse ǫnd (“porch”).^[8][1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a document from Lucca of 1356, with the sense “leaf of a door, shutter of a window”.^[2] The TLIO cites the same sense from the Lucchese Ingiurie (1330–1384).^[10]

Semantic evolution

The architectural sense, a square pilaster at the end of a wall, appears with Palladio in 1570.^[2] It names the end of a colonnade formed by the head of a wall, the feature that gives its name to the Greek temple in antis.^[11] In painting, anta is a wing of a diptych or polyptych that closes over the central panel.^[4][12][13]

In southern dialects the word kept the Latin sense “doorpost”, and Deledda used it for the upright of a wine press.^[6] Pascoli and Panzini brought the northern sense into literature.^[5] Today the commonest sense is a door of a piece of furniture, as in armadio a due ante.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 1330–1384 – The Lucchese Ingiurie use anta for a door or window shutter.^[10]
• 1356 – A document from Lucca has anta “door leaf”.^[2]
• 1521 – Cesariano uses anta for a doorpost.^[6]
• 1570 – Palladio uses anta for a square pilaster.^[2]
• 1800s – The northern sense “shutter, door leaf” spreads into standard Italian.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A door of a piece of furniture, or the leaf of a door: un armadio a quattro ante.^{[4][12][14][1]}
2. A window shutter.^[4][13][1]
3. (art) A painted wing of a diptych or polyptych.^[4][12][14]
4. (architecture) A square pilaster at the end of a wall; by extension a doorpost or pillar beside an opening.^[4][12][11]

Word family

• antina

anta² the forties, fifties…

Etymology tree of anta²

inherited borrowed derived

Italian quaranta

Italian anta

From the same root · anta²

English quarantine ← quaranta

Pronunciation

• /ˈan.ta/^[1]

Forms

anta m pl (plural only)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the years past forty is from Italian -anta, taken from the ending that quaranta, cinquanta, sessanta, settanta, ottanta and novanta share.^{[3][4][12][1]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Tommaseo quotes a letter of Caro, who writes that he was born in 1507 and son giunto a quell'anta che tutta notte canta “I have reached that anta that sings all night”.^[15] GRADIT dates the word before 1566.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo explains the phrase giungere agli anta or averli passati, for someone between forty and ninety years old.^[15] The word is jocular and used in set phrases such as entrare negli anta and passare gli anta, to reach or pass the age of forty.^[12][13][16]

Timeline

• Before 1566 – Caro uses anta for the years past forty.^[4][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (jocular, plural only) The years of age after forty: entrare negli anta, to turn forty.^{[4][12][13][17]}