canestro

Forms

canestro m (plural canestri)^[1] The old form canistro is in Sannazaro, and the feminine canestra is a low basket, usually with two handles.^[2][3][4] Early texts from the Marche have Old Italian caniestro, and a glossary from Bergamo (1429) has Old Italian canester.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin canistrum (“basket”), a Latin borrowing of Ancient Greek κάναστρον (kánastron), also κάνιστρον (kánistron).^[3][6][7][1] The Greek word probably comes from κάννα (kánna, “reed”), the source of Italian canna.^[3][6][7] Devoto notes that the Latin vowel ⟨i⟩ should have given a closed ⟨e⟩ in Italian, and that the word follows Latin nouns in -istrum such as Latin capistrum.^[8]

The Latin form continued in Aromanian cănestră, Sardinian kanistru, chanaister in Lower Engadine, and Italian.^[9][5] A second, more Greek form Vulgar Latin *canastrum gave Old Occitan canasta, Catalan canastra, Spanish canasto and canasta, and Portuguese canastra.^[5][6][9] French canastre was borrowed from Occitan.^[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Proverbia que dicuntur super natura feminarum, a Venetian poem of the early 13th century, with the sense “wicker basket”.^[10][5][3] It tells how the philosopher Antipater hung a prostitute in a basket from a balcony in Rome, “ch'entr'un canestro l'apese ad un balcone”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the canestro was a wicker basket, among others the one holding wool for spinning, and also its contents.^[10] Fra Giordano mentions a basket of grapes and figs given as a present, and the Crescenzi translation says baskets are made of wicker.^[2] The word spread in the 14th century: Milanese before 1315, Florentine in 1306 and Boccaccio in 1341–42.^[5] Tommaseo distinguishes the canestro or paniere with one handle across the top from the canestra or paniera with none or two small ones.^[4]

Basketball, pallacanestro, took the word for the hoop with its net and for the points scored through it.^[7][11][12] In histology a canestro is the fibre network around the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum.^[12]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – The Venetian Proverbia use canestro.^[10][5]
• 1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it in Florence.^[5]
• Early 14th century – Canestra appears in Guido da Pisa.^[3]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses canestro in the Ameto.^[5]
• 1526 – Medieval Latin canestrarius is recorded at Perugia.^[3]
• 1585 – Tomaso Garzoni uses canestraro for a basket maker.^[3]
• 1955 – A second canestro, from German Kanister, is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A basket of woven wicker or other material, usually with one arched handle; a paniere.^[7][11][13]
2. The contents of such a basket: un canestro di mele.^[7][11][14]
3. (basketball) The hoop, a metal ring with a bottomless net fixed to the backboard: tirare a canestro.^[7][13][14]
4. (basketball) A point or goal scored: Ha segnato tre canestri di fila.^[7][13][14]

Word family

• pallacanestro
• canestra
• canestraio
• canestrello
• canestrino
• canestrato

Related words

• canna
• Latin canistrum
• English canister

Usage notes

Andare a canestro is to shoot at the basket or score.^[7][12] GRADIT records a second, rare canestro “canister” from 1955, an adaptation of German Kanister, itself from Latin canistrum.^[7][14][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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. 10, 986
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c 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 c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli