campanella

Forms

campanella f (plural campanelle)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian campana + -ella, a diminutive of the word for “bell”.^[2][3][4][5] Medieval Latin already had campanella in Friuli in 1233, and Wiktionary and Körting take the Italian word straight from a Latin campānella.^[2][1][6] The same diminutive is Spanish campanilla, Portuguese campainha and Old French champenelle.^[7][6]

Campana is campāna, first recorded around 551 in a letter of the Carthaginian deacon Ferrandus.^[8] The LEI takes it as probably elliptical for “Campanian vessels”, from the adjective campānus (“Campanian”).^[8] Wölfflin thought the bronze for casting bells came from Campania.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Verona document of 1266, and Nocentini gives the same year.^[3][9] In Old Italian the word named first the public bell of a town hall or church, as in Bologna around 1280, and the bell that rang the hours.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used campanella for any small bell or handbell giving a signal: in court before the judges came in, in church to mark the parts of the liturgy, and at table to call the servants.^[3] Boccaccio's Decameron has quando udirete sonare le campanelle, verrete qui, “when you hear the little bells ring, come here”.^[10][11] A porcello da campanella was a pig of Saint Anthony that roamed with a bell round its neck and was fed by passers-by.^[3]

From the shape, the word named flowers like a bell, from about 1350 in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.^[2] From the late 13th century, in the Novellino, it also meant the iron ring on a door used as a knocker, or set in a wall for tying horses.^[2][10] Further rings followed: the ring through a bull's nose, the rings of a horse's bit, curtain rings and hoop earrings.^[12][13] Today the word most often means the school bell that marks the beginning and end of lessons.^[12][4][14]

English borrowed the word, from French or Italian, as campanel: for a horse's bit in 1611 and for a small bell in 1653.^[15]

Timeline

• 1233 – Medieval Latin campanella is recorded in Friuli.^[2]
• 1266 – First Italian record, in a Verona document.^[3][9]
• c. 1280 – In Bologna the word names the public bell.^[8]
• End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses it for a ring in a wall.^[2]
• c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for a bell-shaped flower.^[2]
• 1611 – English campanel is recorded for a ring of a horse's bit.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small bell or handbell.^[12][16][1]
2. The school or factory bell, now usually electric, that marks the start and end of lessons or shifts: Alla campanella i bambini corsero in cortile.^[12][4][17]
3. (botany, often in the plural) A name for various plants with bell-shaped flowers, such as the campanula and the bindweed.^{[12][4][16][1]}
4. A metal ring: a door knocker, or a ring set in an old wall for tying horses.^[12][4][13]
5. The ring through the nose of cattle; each of the two rings of a horse's bit to which the reins are fastened.^[12][4][13]
6. A curtain ring; a ring on a sabre's scabbard.^[4][13]
7. A hoop earring.^[4][16][17]
8. (chemistry) A glass tube with a tap, used to collect gases or evaporate liquids.^[12][17]

Word family

• campanellina

Related words

• campana
• campanello
• campanile
• Latin campāna

Usage notes

Old idioms recorded by Tommaseo include stare a suon di campanella, “to live at another's beck and call”, and attaccare i pensieri alla campanella dell'uscio, “to hang one's worries on the door knocker”, that is to put them aside.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 e f 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 279
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 597
12. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana