capanna

Forms

capanna f (plural capanne)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian capana, Old Italian chapanna, Old Italian kapana, Old Italian cappanna and Old Genoese cabana.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin capanna (“hut”), first recorded in Isidore of Seville, who says that country people give this name to a vineyard keeper's shelter “because it holds only one”, connecting it with Latin capiō (“to take, hold”).^[4][5][3] A form cabanna appears in the Reichenau Glosses of the 9th century.^[3][1] The word is found in Italian, Romansh chamanna, Old Occitan cabana, Spanish cabaña and Portuguese cabana;^[6][7][8] The French word cabane is from Occitan.^[6][7][8] Alpine forms with ⟨-m-⟩ point to a variant Vulgar Latin *camanna.^[3][7]

The origin is uncertain, and the sources disagree.^[4][9] DEI and DELI think it may be Iberian, since the first record is in Isidore, and DEI compares Greek words for a covered cart and a Mediterranean suffix ⟨-anna⟩.^[8][4] Alinei proposed an Osco-Umbrian word related to the same Latin verb, and Lurati connected it with northern cavagna (“wicker basket”).^[4] The LEI prefers a Celtic origin, as Jud proposed, though the suffix ⟨-anna⟩ is rare in Celtic.^[3] Nocentini takes it as probably an altered Latin canaba (“hut, shed”), which fits the sense and the late record of both words but not the form.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The LEI's earliest Italian record is Florentine capana, in the account book of the Guicciardini family in 1269, and chapanna follows in 1277.^[3] DELI dates chapanna to 1255–1290 in a Florentine record of purchases, and the TLIO's first record is a document from San Gimignano of 1276.^[4][2] The sense is a small rustic building of wood, stone or branches, used as a dwelling or for animals, hay and tools.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word already covered both a poor dwelling and a farm shed: Giovanni Villani writes of raiders who “burned houses and huts”, and a Florentine deed distinguishes a capana murata (a walled hut) from a capana palliaia (a straw shed).^[5][2] It was also used of the Virgin as a shelter, and for a canopy.^[2]

Modern Italian keeps the hut of branches, reeds or straw, the farm building for hay and tools, any poor dwelling and, in the Alps, a high mountain hut.^[9][10][11] Proverbial phrases are due cuori e una capanna, love that needs little, and the joking pancia mia fatti capanna before a big meal.^[9][12][13] Capannello, a small knot of people talking, is recorded from 1536 in Aretino, and Tommaseo guessed it was named from the closeness of people in a hut or in a fowler's blind.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 600 – Isidore of Seville records Late Latin capanna.^[5][3]
• 9th century – Cavanna glosses tugurium in the Reichenau Glosses.^[3]
• 1269 – Florentine capana is recorded.^[3]
• 1276 – A document from San Gimignano has the word.^[2]
• 1536 – Capannello “knot of people” is recorded in Aretino.^[4]
• 1607 – Galileo uses capannone for a large rustic shed.^[4]
• 1729 – Capanno appears in the fourth Crusca dictionary.^[4]
• 1922 – Capanno is recorded for a beach hut.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hut: a small building of branches, reeds, straw or wood, used as a shelter for people or animals: una capanna di paglia sulla riva del fiume.^{[9][10][14][1]}
2. A rustic building beside a farmhouse, used to store hay and tools.^[9][10][12]
3. A humble, poor dwelling, a hovel.^[9][10][14]
4. A high-altitude mountain hut in the Alps.^[9][10][14]

Word family

• capannello
• capanno
• capannone
• capannina
• capannuccia
• capannella

Related words

• cabina
• French cabane
• Late Latin capanna

Usage notes

A capanna describes a roof or façade with two slopes, and fondo di capanna in archaeology is the trace of a hut in the ground.^[12][9][11] The diminutives include capannina, capannuccia and capannella.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 1581
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 731
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse