catino

Forms

catino m (plural catini)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin catīnus (“bowl, deep dish”), also neuter catinum.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin word survives only in outlying parts of the Romance area: Romanian catin, Friulian ciadin, Portuguese cadinho and Sardinian cadinu.^[6][3][7] The northern dialects have a voiced consonant, as in Lombard cadin and Venetian cain, recorded as Medieval Latin cainus in 1225.^[8][7] It is missing in southern Italy, and French catin (15th century) is a learned borrowing.^[8] The Latin diminutive catillus passed into Germanic and gave German Kessel (“kettle”).^[8][7]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[2][9][10] It has been compared with Ancient Greek κοτύλη (kotúlē, “cup, bowl”), but the forms do not match well, and since names of vessels are often borrowed, de Vaan takes it as a loanword.^[11][12] DEI suggests a Mediterranean relic related to cadus (“jar”), and Wiktionary mentions a substrate source or Proto-Indo-European *ket-.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is chatino in 1233, in the diary of Matasalà, for a round, hollow household vessel.^[2] The TLIO's first record is a Sienese document of 1277–1282.^[13] Iacopone da Todi used the feminine catina before 1306: Rècamese la cocina, messa en una mia catina (“the food is brought to me, put in a basin of mine”).^[4][14]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word named a wide, shallow bowl of terracotta, metal or wood, used for food as well as for washing.^[13][14] Boccaccio, in the Corbaccio (1354–1355), describes a woman who ate non in iscodella ma in un catino, a guisa del porco (“not from a bowl but from a basin, like a pig”).^[6][14] Antonio Pucci compared the Campo of Siena to a catino.^[15]

The shape gave the word to architecture, for the half-dome over an apse (before 1537, Biringuccio), to geography, for a round hollow among hills (18th century), and in journalism to the stadium.^[2][16][4] The phrase a catinelle first described blood flowing out in basinfuls (before 1665) and later rain (before 1850), the only use it has today.^[2]

Timeline

• 1233 – Matasalà writes chatino.^[2]
• 1277–1282 – A Sienese document records the word.^[13]
• 1297 – The diminutive catinella is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses the feminine catina.^[2][4]
• 1344 – The form catino appears in a Florentine book of household accounts.^[2]
• Before 1537 – Biringuccio uses the word for the half-dome of an apse.^[2]
• Before 1665 – Lorenzo Lippi uses a catinelle “in great quantity”.^[2]
• Before 1850 – A catinelle is used of rain.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A basin: a round, fairly shallow vessel for washing oneself or for washing clothes, dishes or vegetables.^{[4][17][16][18]}
2. A basinful, the liquid a basin holds: un catino di acqua calda.^[4][17][19]
3. (architecture) The half-dome that covers an apse or a niche.^{[4][16][18][19]}
4. (geography) A round hollow in the ground surrounded by heights; a wide dolina.^{[4][17][18][19]}
5. (journalism) A stadium ringed by high stands, as seen from inside or above.^[4][17][18]
6. The waterproof floor with raised edges of a camping tent.^[4]
7. (archaic) A rustic dish set in the middle of the table, from which everyone took food.^[4][17][5]
8. (archaic, metallurgy) A basin at the mouth of a furnace that collects molten metal; a small furnace for melting metals.^[4][17][18]

Word family

• catinella
• semicatino
• catinaio
• catinetto
• catinone

Related words

• Latin catinus
• German Kessel

Usage notes

Piovere a catinelle is “to rain in torrents”.^[2] GRADIT also lists a rare literary adjective catino “cerulean, blue” (1786), a learned word from Late Latin cattinus “of a cat”, said of the eyes, from cattus “cat”.^[4][18][20] Salvini wrote of eyes di colore catino, cioè di gatto, o ceruleo (“of a catino colour, that is, of a cat, or cerulean”).^[20][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 12, 1563
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 813
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 882
15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ 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
18. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
19. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
20. ^ 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, 883