catasta

Forms

catasta f (plural cataste)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin catasta (“platform, stage; scaffold on which slaves were shown for sale”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The Latin noun is usually traced to Ancient Greek κατάστασις (katástasis, “placing, setting up”), from καθίστημι (kathístēmi, “to set, to place”), but DELI, GRADIT and Zingarelli give the Greek source only as possible.^{[3][5][1][2][4][7]} DEI finds the Greek noun too far from the Latin one in form and sense, and posits a dialect Greek neuter plural meaning “establishment”, peculiar to southern Italy, where the word is widespread in the dialects.^[8] Devoto and the GDLI also mention a hybrid of Ancient Greek κατά (katá) and the stem of Latin stō (“to stand”).^[9][10]

The LEI finds the technical sense “support for casks or a bell, beam, platform” continued in southern Gallo-Romance and in Italo-Romance, as in Old Occitan cadastre (“support of a bell”) (1492).^[11][12] Northern Italy has forms in ⟨cal-⟩, such as Lombard calaster (“supports of casks”), from which comes Tuscan calastrello.^[12][13] The dialects of Sardinia have katassa (“pile, pyre”), with ⟨-st-⟩ assimilated to ⟨-ss-⟩.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1288, in the phrase legne di catasta, firewood stacked for burning.^[14][7] DELI's first record, in Florentine texts of 1291–1300, has the more specific sense of a measure of firewood.^[2] A Florentine account book has Lire 27 di piccioli per sei cataste di legne (“27 lire in small coin for six stacks of wood”).^[15]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a pyre on which a person was burned, for a heap of dead bodies or bones, and for a metal gridiron of torture with a fire beneath it.^[14] Sacchetti writes of woods where there are cataste / di teschi e membra guaste (“piles of skulls and broken limbs”), and Davanzati, translating Tacitus, used it for the funeral pyre.^[10][13] The derived verb accatastare “to stack” dates from the 16th century.^[3]

In Tuscany a catasta was also a fixed measure of firewood, 4.771 cubic metres.^[16][5] In the 20th century the word took on the computing sense “stack”, translating the English word.^[17][5] In mining it names a crib of crossed timbers that supports the roof of a gallery.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 1288 – A Florentine document records legne di catasta.^[14][7]
• 1291–1300 – Florentine texts use the word for a measure of firewood.^[2]
• 1429 – Old Bergamasque cadasta “support for a cask” is recorded.^[11]
• 1492 – Old Occitan cadastre “support for a bell” is recorded at Millau.^[11]
• 16th century – Accatastare “to stack” appears.^[3]
• 1736 – Sardinian katassa “pile, pyre” is recorded.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pile or heap of things laid one on another, especially firewood stacked in order: una catasta di vecchi giornali.^{[4][16][18][7][19]}
2. (historical) An old Tuscan measure of volume for firewood.^[4][16][5]
3. (literary) A funeral pyre.^[4][16][7]
4. (computing) A stack: a store in which the last item put in is the first taken out.^[4][17]
5. (mining) A crib of crossed timbers supporting the roof of a gallery; the same as castella.^[4][5][11]

Word family

• accatastare
• catastare
• incatastarsi
• catastina

Related words

• calastrello
• Latin catasta

Usage notes

A cataste means “in great quantity”.^[4][16][7] Pezzo da catasta is a large log for burning, and jokingly a rogue.^[5][15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 809
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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, 872
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. 12, 1428
12. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 256
14. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
19. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli