castellano

Forms

castellano (feminine castellana, masculine plural castellani, feminine plural castellane)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin castellānus (“of a castle; inhabitant of a castle”).^[2][3][1][4] The Latin word is formed from castellum (“fortress, castle”) with the suffix -ānus.^[5][1] The LEI separates the original adjective from its use as a noun and notes that both are already Latin.^[6] DEI points to the Late Latin plural use for the inhabitants of a castle.^[7] Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti describe the word as a derivative of castello.^[8][9]

The noun “governor or lord of a castle” lives on in all the Romance languages except Romanian and Sardinian: Friulian ciastelàn, Old French chastelain (1155, Wace), Old Occitan caslan (about 1070), Catalan castellà, Spanish castellano (about 1140, in the Cid) and Portuguese castelão.^[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine Libro Guelfo of 1276–1279, where the word means the keeper or lord of a castle.^[11] Bonvesin de la Riva has Milanese castellan in the last decade of the 13th century.^[6] DELI's first example is the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the castellano was the lord of one or more castles, or the officer who held a castle or fortress for a commune or a lord.^[11][4] The Novellino calls Imberal del Balzo grande castellano di Provenza, and Giovanni Villani reports a decree forbidding Florentine citizens to be castellano of any castle at Lucca.^[13][14] Old Italian has many regional forms, among them castelan, çastelan, castlan and chastellano.^[11]

The adjective “of a castle” is recorded before 1363 in Matteo Villani, and mura castellane, castle walls, is still a common phrase.^[12][6][13] From Davanzati on it also describes nobility that comes from the lordship of castles, as in Carducci's nobiltà castellana.^[6][15] The noun widened to a landowner in general, as in Berni's line Egli è di poca terra castellano.^[15][2] The orologio alla castellana, a pocket watch worn with its chain hanging out, follows French à la châtelaine.^[15][8]

Timeline

• 1276–1279 – The Libro Guelfo of Florence has castellano “keeper of a castle”.^[11]
• 1290s – Bonvesin de la Riva writes Milanese castellan.^[6]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses the noun for the lord of a castle.^[12]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses the adjective “of a castle”.^[12][11]
• Before 1606 – Davanzati uses the adjective for nobility descended from castle lords.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a castle, belonging or having belonged to a castle: le mura castellane della rocca.^{[2][8][9][15]}

Noun

1. (history) A castellan: the lord or owner of one or more castles and their lands, a feudal lord.^[2][8][9][4]
2. By extension, the owner of a large estate.^[2][15]
3. (history, military) The commander of a castle or fortress.^[2][8][16]
4. (rare) A person who lives in a castle.^[2][8][4]

Word family

• castellaneria
• castellania

Related words

• castello
• Latin castellum
• French châtelain

Usage notes

Castellano is also the demonym of Città di Castello and of many places whose names contain Castello or Castel- (Castel Bolognese, Castelfranco Veneto and others), a separate formation recorded from 1494, and Zingarelli lists a homonym for a medieval gold coin of Castile, taken from Spanish castellano “Castilian”.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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. 12, 1219
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 798
8. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 855
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli