bastone

Forms

bastone m (plural bastoni)^[1] Old Italian and dialect forms include Genoese baston (before 1311), Milanese baston (before 1315, Bonvesin), Florentine basstone (early 14th century), Roman vastone (about 1358) and Sicilian bastuni.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *bastō (“stick; support”), from the accusative ⟨*bastōnem⟩, a form not recorded in Latin texts but presupposed by the Romance words.^[4][5][2][6] Beside it stands Late Latin bastum (“stick”), a word found only once, in Aelius Lampridius in the 4th century.^[2][7] DELI treats the Italian word as parallel to the Late Latin noun for the pack saddle, the source of basto, GRADIT as its augmentative, and Nocentini and the LEI derive it from a verb ⟨*bastāre⟩ “to carry”, the source of bastare.^[4][6][5][2] Devoto read it as the pack saddle par excellence, that is, a support.^[8][9] Wiktionary allows either a modification of the Late Latin noun or a noun use of the verb.^[1]

The same word is French bâton, Occitan baston, Catalan bastó, Spanish bastón and Portuguese bastão.^[5][7] It is recorded early in each language: Old French bastun in the Song of Roland about 1148, the Medieval Latin plural bastons in Catalonia in 1062, and the Spanish word from 1074.^[2]

This verb is perhaps from Ancient Greek βαστάζω (bastázō, “to lift, carry”), though Corominas preferred a pre-Roman origin for the noun meaning pack saddle.^[10][1] Meyer-Lübke thought the origin of that noun unknown and a link with the Greek verb unlikely, since the word belongs mainly to southern France and northern Italy.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin documents from Emilia already have the word in the 13th century, at Parma in 1255 and at Bologna in 1288.^[4] In the vernacular the plural bastun appears in the Piedmontese Sermoni subalpini about 1200, and bastoni in Uguccione da Lodi early in the 13th century, for a rounded, worked branch held as a support or a weapon.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense of an emblem of authority, especially military command, is in Jacopone da Todi before 1306, and the TLIO records the bishop's or abbot's pastoral staff and, in Florence, a symbol of political power.^[4][3] The figurative sense of help and support is found in the 14th century;^[4][12] Boccaccio calls a son the “only staff of my old age” (unico bastone della mia vecchiezza), and essere il bastone della vecchiaia is fixed by the 16th century.^[4][12] Boccaccio's Decameron also has a man who, finding a round stick of young oak, beats his wife with it.^[13]

In the plural bastoni became one of the four suits of Italian playing cards and tarot cards, recorded at the Este court in 1442.^[4] Later senses are the long loaf of bread (1865), the sports stick or club (1907), and the plural for sans-serif typefaces with strokes of even width (1962).^[4] The bastone animato, a hollow cane hiding a blade, is recorded from 1877, and the field marshal's baton, bastone di maresciallo, from 1908.^[4]

German borrowed the word as bastan in 1472–73.^[14] It passed into Greek as μπαστούνι and into Ottoman Turkish, the source of Turkish baston.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – The plural bastun appears in the Piedmontese Sermoni subalpini.^[2]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses bastoni.^[2][3]
• 1255 – The word is recorded in a Medieval Latin document from Parma.^[4]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses bastone for a staff of authority.^[4][6]
• Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses it for a walking stick or weapon.^[4]
• 1353 – Boccaccio has the derivatives bastonare and bastonata.^[4]
• 1442 – Bastoni is recorded as a suit of playing cards.^[4]
• 1472–1473 – German bastan is first recorded.^[14]
• 1865 – A long loaf of bread is called a bastone.^[4]
• 1907 – Panzini records the sports stick.^[4]
• 1962 – The plural is recorded for sans-serif typefaces.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stick: a smoothed branch, or an object of similar shape in another material, used to lean on when walking or as a weapon: Il nonno esce sempre con il bastone.^[6][9][15]
2. A staff or baton as the emblem of command or authority, especially military; the office it stands for: bastone di maresciallo, bastone pastorale.^[6][15][16]
3. A long loaf of bread.^[6][17][15]
4. (sport) A stick or club used to hit a ball, puck or similar: bastone da golf, bastone da hockey; in gymnastics, a short bar used in exercises.^[6][15][16]
5. (skiing) A ski pole.^[6][9][1]
6. (nautical) A boom or spar that extends a mast or yard, especially to set an extra sail.^[6][16]
7. (architecture) A torus, a convex moulding with a semicircular profile.^[6][15][16]
8. (card games, in the plural) One of the four suits of Neapolitan and tarot cards: il re di bastoni.^[6][17][15]
9. (heraldry) A bend reduced to a third of its width.^[6][15]
10. (typography) carattere a bastone: a sans-serif typeface.^[6][17][15]

Word family

• bastonare
• bastonata
• bastonatura
• bastoncino
• bastoncello
• bastoniere

Related words

• basto
• bastare
• French bâton
• Spanish bastón

Usage notes

Fixed expressions include mettere i bastoni tra le ruote (to put obstacles in someone's way), usare il bastone e la carota (to alternate harshness and gentleness), essere il bastone della vecchiaia (to be the support of an old person) and bastone bianco, the white cane of the blind.^[6][15][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 5, 124
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 5, 178
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplement 2009
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse