cisterna

Forms

cisterna f (plural cisterne)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian citerna and Old Italian gisterna.^[2] Old Piedmontese had sisterna.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cisterna (“underground water tank”).^[4][5][6][1] The LEI counts it with the inherited outcomes of the Latin word, which spread through the Romance languages except Romanian.^[3] The old form Old Italian citerna came through French citerne.^[4]

The same Latin word gave Dalmatian cistiérna, Friulian cistèrne, Old French cisterne, Old Occitan cisterna, Catalan cisterna, Spanish cisterna and Portuguese cisterna.^[3] Sursilvan has cistiarna, and the dialect of Nuoro kistèrra.^[3] Many dialects crossed the word with more familiar ones: in Belluno it became Venetian pusterna under the influence of Latin puteus (“well”).^[3][7] DEI explains the southern forms with initial g- through Greek, which took the Latin word and mixed it with its word for “bladder”.^[8]

The Latin word is formed from cista (“box, chest”) with the suffix -erna, as in caverna and taberna.^{[4][9][10][1]} DELI and Sabatini–Coletti call the suffix Etruscan, and DEI takes the word for a probable Etruscan formation.^[4][11][8] Latin cista is from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Sienese translation of Egidio Romano of 1288, where a cisterna is a tank for collecting rainwater, usually built of masonry and sunk into the ground.^[2][12][3] Bono Giamboni has the French-shaped citerna before 1292.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a deep cavity underground or a cave, as Dante does in the Commedia about 1313, and figuratively for a spring or source of water.^[2][3] A storeroom for liquids could be a cisterna as well.^[2] The vernacular Crescenzi advises watering trees with acqua di cisterna “cistern water”.^[13] The senses of “well” and “source” are now obsolete.^[12][6]

In the 18th century medical writers took the word for cavities of the body where fluids collect, matching French citerne for a ventricle of the brain (from 1752).^[3] Anatomy still speaks of the cisterna di Pecquet and the subarachnoid cisterns, and cell biology uses the word for the flattened sacs of the endoplasmic reticulum.^[12][14][15]

From the general sense of a large tank for liquids came the vehicles that carry one: placed after a noun, cisterna names a tanker ship, a tank wagon or a tanker lorry (nave cisterna, carro cisterna, autocisterna).^[14][6][11] On ships it is also each of the tanks in the hold filled with ballast water.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1288 – The Sienese translation of Egidio Romano has cisterna, a tank for rainwater.^[2][12]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the form citerna.^[4]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses cisterna.^[4]
• c. 1313 – In the Commedia the word means a deep cavity underground.^[2][3]
• 1483–1528 – Old Piedmontese sisterna is recorded in Saluzzo.^[3]
• 18th century – Medical writers apply the word to cavities of the body.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cistern: a tank of masonry, usually underground, that collects and stores rainwater.^[6][15][14]
2. A large tank for water or other liquids: una cisterna di olio combustibile.^[6][15][16]
3. A tanker lorry, short for autocisterna.^[6][15]
4. (nautical) Each of the metal tanks in a ship's hold filled with ballast water.^[15][14][11]
5. (anatomy) A cavity where body fluids collect: cisterna di Pecquet.^[15][12][14]
6. (biology) A flattened sac of the endoplasmic reticulum or the Golgi apparatus.^[15][12]
7. (obsolete) A well, a deep pit, and figuratively a source.^[12][6]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after a noun) Of a vehicle, fitted with tanks to carry liquids: nave cisterna, vagone cisterna, aereo cisterna.^[15][12][17]

Word family

• autocisterna
• aerocisterna
• cisternetta
• cisternina
• cisternone
• cisterniero

Related words

• cesta
• Latin cista
• French citerne

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 14, 794
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 964
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana