cammino

Forms

cammino m (plural cammini)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cammīnus (“road, way”), a word from Gaulish of Gaulish origin.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is first recorded, spelt ⟨caminus⟩, in Spain before about 680, and replaced Latin iter (“way”), which stood alone in its morphology.^[5] Welsh cam (“step”) and Breton kamm point to a Gaulish stem with a short vowel in the suffix, whose ending was replaced by the Latin suffix -īnus.^[5][6][7] Nocentini reconstructs Proto-Celtic *cengmen- (“way”) from these and Old Irish cingim (“to walk”).^[3] The LEI compares Celtiberian ⟨camanom⟩ “way” in the Botorrita inscription.^[5]

The word is in every Romance language except Romanian: French chemin, Old Occitan cami, Catalan camí, Spanish camino, Portuguese caminho and Friulian ciamìn.^[5][3][6] The double ⟨mm⟩ is not found in Sicilian caminu.^[1] It is unrelated to camino “fireplace”, from Latin camīnus.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese Uguccione da Lodi, early in the 13th century, with the sense “the act of moving from one place to another; a journey”.^[9] DELI's first date for “walking, journey, road” is in Brunetto Latini, before 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Italian the word was a pilgrimage, the places passed through on the way, and figuratively the course of a process.^[9] Bono Giamboni (before 1292) uses it for a way of acting, and Guittone (before 1294) for the course of life, as in Dante's Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.^[2][4] The LEI also records it for the course of the elements and stars, for progress, and for moral conduct.^[5]

The verb camminare is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.^[2] Camminamento, a covered communication trench, is a First World War word modelled on French cheminement.^[2][3] The word is mainly northern and central Italian; the south has caminari for the verb.^[10]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the word for a journey.^[9]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for a way of acting.^[2]
• 1292–1293 – Dante's Vita Nuova has cammino “road”.^[5]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for walking and journeying.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino has camminare.^[2]
• 1918 – Camminamento is listed as a word of the war.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A road or way travelled or to be travelled: un lungo cammino.^[4][11]
2. A journey, especially on foot: mettersi in cammino.^[4][11][12]
3. The route to follow: smarrire il cammino.^[4][11]
4. The direction followed, as by a ship.^[4]
5. (figurative) The course or development of something: il cammino della ricerca.^[4]
6. (figurative) Conduct of life: il retto cammino.^[4][1]
7. (mathematics) A path in a topological space.^[4]

Word family

• camminare
• camminata
• camminatore
• camminamento
• incamminarsi

Related words

• Late Latin cammīnus
• French chemin
• Spanish camino

Usage notes

Cammin facendo means “on the way”.^[4][11] GRADIT lists a regional cammino as a variant of camino “fireplace”, which the Vocabolario Treccani calls Tuscan; the LEI records it from the early 16th century to 1798.^[4][12][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 220
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 113
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 703
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)