cellulare

Forms

cellulare m (plural cellulari)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian cellula + -are, the adjective of the word for a cell.^[2][3][4][1] Zingarelli derives it instead from French cellulaire,^[5] which DEI dates to 1751.^[6] Italian “cellula” is a learned word from Late Latin cellula (“small room”), a diminutive of Latin cella (“small room; storeroom”);^[7][8] Nocentini takes the Latin noun from cēlō (“to hide”).^[8]

The noun senses are later and come from phrases.^[9][3] The police van, first “vettura cellulare”, is modelled on French voiture cellulaire, recorded in French from 1845, a carriage divided into small compartments so that the prisoners cannot talk to one another.^[7][9][3] The telephone, first “telefono cellulare”, is a calque of English cellular phone (1987), named after the “cells” into which the territory served by the network is divided.^[7][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Antonio Vallisneri, who died in 1730, wrote cellolare for “made of cells” in his medical and scientific works, printed in Venice in 1733; the form cellulare is recorded in 1745 by Bergantini.^[11][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th and 19th centuries the adjective belonged to anatomy and biology: Tommaseo's dictionary has tessuto cellulare for connective tissue and quotes Antonio Cocchi on “cellular” cavities of the body.^[12] The sense “divided into cells” is recorded from 1857 in Gerolamo Boccardo, and in 1875 Lessona defines the sistema cellulare of prisons, in which every prisoner is shut in a separate cell, and the vettura cellulare that carries them.^[11][7] As a noun cellulare meant the prison itself from Verga (1884) to Panzini (1950), and the van from 1931.^[7][11]

The telephone sense arrived at the end of the 20th century;^[3][13] Sabatini–Coletti date the noun to 1990, and the GDLI supplement quotes Dacia Maraini for a woman who takes un cellulare piccolo e nero out of her bag.^[3][13] Other technical uses name ship hulls built in compartments, plastics with a structure full of cavities, and an open-mesh cotton fabric for summer shirts.^[2][10][5]

Timeline

• Before 1730 – Antonio Vallisneri uses cellolare “made of cells”.^[11]
• 1745 – The form cellulare is recorded by Bergantini.^[11]
• 1857 – Gerolamo Boccardo uses it for “divided into cells”.^[11][7]
• 1875 – Lessona defines the sistema cellulare and the vettura cellulare for prisoners.^[11]
• 1884 – Verga uses cellulare as a noun for the cell prison.^[7]
• 1931 – Panzini's dictionary has the noun for the prison van.^[11]
• 1990 – The noun is used for the mobile telephone.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mobile phone, in full telefono cellulare: Ti chiamo sul cellulare appena arrivo in stazione.^[2][9][3][1]
2. A police van with separate compartments for carrying prisoners or people under arrest.^[9][3][1]
3. (textiles) An open-mesh fabric used for summer shirts and underwear.^[5][10][4]
4. (dated) A prison in which each inmate is kept alone in a cell.^[10][7]

Adjective

1. (biology) Of the cell; made up of cells: la membrana cellulare.^[2][9][3]
2. Divided into compartments or cells; with hollow spaces between solid parts, as a ship's double bottom.^[2][9][10]
3. (telecommunications) Of a radio network divided into cells, each with its own transmitter.^[4][3]

Word family

• extracellulare
• intracellulare
• intercellulare
• subcellulare
• acellulare
• cellularità

Related words

• cellula
• cella
• telefonino
• French cellulaire

Usage notes

In speech the telephone is also telefonino.^[3][5] Carcere cellulare and furgone cellulare are the full phrases behind the prison and the van.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 846
7. ^ 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. 13, 784
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca