calcina

Forms

calcina f (plural calcine)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin calcīna (“lime”), recorded in Chiron in the 4th century: the feminine of the adjective calcīnus (“of lime”) used as a noun, from Latin calx (“lime”).^[2][3][4][5] Nocentini and Wiktionary give it as a spoken Latin *calcīna.^[6][1] Von Wartburg thought that the clash with calx (“heel”) helped the longer word replace the shorter word for lime, through a phrase *petra calcīna;^[2][3] Dante still used it as an adjective with the word for stone.^[2][3] DELI points to Rohlfs on the confusion between calce and the longer word.^[5]

The word lives on in every Romance language except Romanian: Old French chaucine, Occitan causina, Catalan calsina, Sardinian kalkina, Friulian cialcine and Dalmatian calciaina.^[2][6][7] The Latin word for lime was taken from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”), a word of unknown origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, from Cremona, early in the 13th century, where the word means lime not yet slaked with water, used as mortar in building and in tanning.^[8][6] DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni, before 1292, in the sense of a mortar of slaked lime mixed with sand and gravel: la calcina sia di pietre bianche e dure (“let the lime be of white, hard stones”).^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian distinguished calcina viva, quicklime, from calcina spenta, lime slaked in water, and called its purest part fior di calcina; lime was also thrown at besiegers or made into missiles.^[8][4] Giovanni Villani tells that the mortar for the first stone of a building at Colle was mixed with the blood of the envoys Florence sent, as a sign of friendship between the two communes.^[4]

Derivatives grew round the building trade: calcinaccio, a piece of dry plaster fallen from a wall, calcinaio, the pit for slaking lime, and the verb calcinare.^[5][6] Medieval Latin calcinacium is recorded at Reggio Emilia in 1242, and place names such as Calcinaia in Tuscany go back to a ⟨Calcinaria⟩ of 939.^[3][9] In Tuscany the word also means lime or limestone in general.^[1]

Timeline

• 4th century – Late Latin calcina is recorded in Chiron.^[2]
• 939 – The place name ⟨Calcinaria⟩ is recorded in Tuscany.^[9]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses calcina.^[8]
• 1242 – Medieval Latin calcinacium is recorded at Reggio Emilia.^[3]
• 1275 – The word appears in account books from Prato.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for mortar.^[5]
• 1338 – Calcinaio is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lime mortar: slaked lime worked with sand, gravel and water, as in muro a calcina, a wall built with mortar: Il muratore stendeva la calcina tra i mattoni.^{[10][11][12][13]}
2. Slaked lime.^[10][14][15]
3. (by extension, Tuscany) Lime in general, also quicklime.^[10][11][1]

Word family

• calcinaccio
• calcinaio
• calcinare
• calcinatura
• calcinazione
• calcinoso
• incalcinare
• scalcinare
• scalcinato
• scalcinatura
• calcinaiolo
• calcinello

Related words

• calce
• calcare
• Latin calx

Usage notes

Builders speak of calcina grassa and calcina magra, with much or little lime against the sand.^[10][11][13] Calcina is also a form of the verb calcinare, “to turn limestone into quicklime”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 9, 1164
3. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 674
4. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 207
10. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse