cantina

Forms

cantina f (plural cantine)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably formed from Italian canto² (“corner”) + -ina, in the sense of a secluded place or store-room.^[2][3][4][5] Devoto's Avviamento and Devoto–Oli call it a diminutive of the corner word, meaning a well-hidden corner.^[6][7] GRADIT gives the origin as uncertain and the link with the corner word only as possible, and DEI finds that link evident neither in meaning nor in form.^[8][9] Treccani calls it akin to cantone, and the LEI files it with the outcomes of the Latin corner word, beside the other corner words.^[10][11] Tommaseo mentions an older view that took it as a shortening of canova with an adjective ending.^[12]

The corner word is from Latin canthus (“iron tyre of a wheel”), which Quintilian considered a word from Spain or Africa.^[3][13][11] The Romance outcomes show that it must also have meant “edge, margin”, which led to “corner” and “out-of-the-way spot”.^[3] It is compared with Ancient Greek κανθός (kanthós, “corner of the eye”), Welsh cant (“iron rim”) and Breton kant (“circle”), but whether these are loans, and in which direction, cannot be settled.^[3] DELI makes the Latin word come from the Greek one, which it takes to be Celtic in origin.^[2] Wiktionary derives it from Gaulish *cantos, from Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ndʰ-.^[1]

DEI calls the word one of central and northern Italy that also reached the southern dialects, and France in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Sienese statute of 1298, for a room wholly or partly underground used to keep wine, food or other goods.^[14][11] DELI cites Folgore da San Gimignano (end of the 13th century), whose sonnet for July in Siena puts the ices in the cellars (ne le cantine).^[2][15]

Semantic evolution

Old Tuscan records follow from Pisa (1327), Florence (1375) and Siena again, and Burchiello and Ariosto use the word.^[11] Prati notes an old sense “grotto” before the usual “wine room in the foundations of a house”.^[16] From the cellar the word passed to the shop: DELI dates “place where wine is sold” to Pietro Aretino, 1542.^[2] Tommaseo records the proverb Chi ha buona cantina in casa, non va pel vino all'osteria (“He who has a good cellar at home doesn't go to the tavern for wine”), of those who have resources of their own.^[12]

In modern Italian cantina is also a storeroom in the basement of a block of flats, the premises of a winery, a wine cooperative (cantina sociale), a barracks canteen in the army until the First World War, and a pit from which deep drilling begins.^[8][10][5] In theatre slang andare in cantina is to drop one's voice too low while acting or singing.^[10][5]

French borrowed the word as cantine in 1680, first for a portable case for bottles, then for a sutler's shop for soldiers (1740) and a works canteen (1866).^[17] English canteen (1744) comes from the French word.^[18][17] English cantina “bar room” (1892, the American Southwest) is from the Spanish and Italian word.^[18] German Kantine came through French, and Spanish cantina, Romanian cantină and Turkish kantin were also borrowed.^[17][1]

Timeline

• 1298 – Cantina appears in a Sienese statute.^[14][11]
• 1309 – Folgore da San Gimignano writes cantine.^[11]
• 1327 – The word is recorded at Pisa.^[11]
• 1542 – Pietro Aretino uses it for a place where wine is sold.^[2]
• 1618 – Cantiniere “cellarman” is first recorded.^[2]
• 1680 – French cantine is first recorded.^[17]
• 1744 – English canteen is first recorded.^[18]
• 1892 – English cantina is recorded in the American Southwest.^[18]
• 1922 – Scantinato “basement” is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cellar: a cool underground or half-underground room where wine is made, kept and aged: Lo zio teneva le botti in cantina.^[8][7][5]
2. (by extension) A basement storeroom; in a block of flats, each of the small rooms assigned to the flats: Abbiamo portato gli sci vecchi in cantina.^[8][10][5]
3. (figurative) A dark, damp place: Senza finestre, lo studio sembrava una cantina.^[8][5][10]
4. (oenology) A winery: the premises where wine is made, stored and bottled;^[8][7][10] cantina sociale, a growers' cooperative that makes and sells their wine.^[8][7][10]
5. A collection of wines: Il ristorante vanta una cantina di trecento etichette.^[7][19]
6. A wine shop or tavern.^[8][4][5]
7. (military, dated) A barracks canteen.^[8][5][4]
8. (mining) A pit about two metres deep from which deep drilling begins.^[8][5][19]

Word family

• cantiniere
• scantinato
• cantinetta

Related words

• canto²
• cantone
• French cantine
• English canteen

Usage notes

Andare in cantina is theatre slang for speaking or singing in too low a tone.^[5][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 728
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ 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, 1439
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
16. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 226
17. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
18. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
19. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli