Etymologically
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colazione

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Pronunciation

  • /ko.latˈt͡sjo.ne/[1]

Forms

colazione f (plural colazioni)[1] Older and popular forms are colezione, collezione and collazione.[2][3][4] Regional forms include Piedmontese colasion, Venetian colation (1573) and Neapolitan collazione (before 1632, Basile).[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin collātiō (“a bringing together”), the noun of collātus, the past participle of cōnferō (“to bring together”), a compound of cum (“with”) and ferō (“to carry”).[2][6][7] The Latin word meant a collection, a discussion and a conferral, and in the specific sense “collection of patristic writings” it is recorded in Walahfrid Strabo (840–842).[5]

The sense “meal” grew up in the monasteries.[2][8][9] According to Alberto Zamboni, whom DELI and the LEI follow, the word was used for the common refection during which sacred texts were read aloud, above all the “Collationes” on the lives of the Desert Fathers.[2][5] Nocentini traces it directly to the “Collationes patrum” of John Cassian (c. 360–c. 435): monks took some food at the evening meetings of compline, where a passage of that work was read.[8] Tommaseo already explained it as the monks' spiritual conference after eating, and then the eating itself.[10]

Whether Italian took the word straight from Latin or through French is disputed.[2][11] DELI, Nocentini and GRADIT give the Latin word as the source,[2][8][9] while Devoto, Devoto–Oli, Zingarelli and Gabrielli derive it from Old French colation, and Prati and Meyer-Lübke from Old French or Old Occitan colacion, where it meant the light supper allowed to Catholics on fast days.[12][11][6][7][13][14] Sabatini–Coletti calls it the popular form beside the learned collazione, which keeps the senses “comparison of texts” and “conferral”.[15][5][1] The same word is French collation (“snack”) and Spanish colación (“snack”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is colezione in the chronicle of Matteo Villani (before 1363), where the king sends his son ahead to say that he wishes to come and take a colezione with the captive king of France.[2][3] The sense was a light meal outside the main ones; the LEI records it as an evening refection on fast days in Vespasiano da Bisticci (before 1498) and as a snack or midday meal in Florentine (1353–1375) and Sicilian (1370) documents.[5]

Semantic evolution

The form collazione appears in Sercambi's tales (c. 1400) and colazione in Vespasiano da Bisticci (before 1498).[2] The evening sense, a light supper on days of fasting, lasted into the 18th century and is now archaic.[5][11] Tommaseo defined the word as the morning meal, or even only a drink taken then, and Redi recommends adding water to the milk of the colazione and of the afternoon snack.[10]

In modern Italian colazione is above all breakfast, and also the midday meal, especially a light one; to tell the two apart, the morning meal is called prima colazione and lunch seconda colazione.[9][11][4] The lunch sense belongs to more formal usage.[4] Set phrases include fare colazione (to have breakfast), colazione all'inglese (an English breakfast, with toast, butter, jam and eggs), colazione continentale, colazione di lavoro (a working lunch) and colazione al sacco (a packed lunch eaten outdoors).[9][6][11] Alemannic German borrowed the word as kalaze.[1]

Timeline

  • 840–842 – Walahfrid Strabo uses Latin collationes for the collections of the lives of the Fathers.[5]
  • 1353–1375 – Florentine chollezione “snack” is recorded.[5]
  • Before 1363 – Matteo Villani has colezione.[2]
  • 1370 – Sicilian collacione is recorded.[5]
  • c. 1400 – Sercambi has collazione.[2]
  • Before 1498 – Vespasiano da Bisticci has colazione, for a light evening meal on fast days.[2][5]
  • 1573 – Venetian colation is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. breakfast, the first meal of the day, also called prima colazione; also the food eaten then and the time of day when it is eaten: Stamattina ho fatto colazione con un tè e due fette biscottate.[9][11][15]
  2. The midday meal, lunch, especially a light one, also called seconda colazione; the food eaten then: Domenica ci hanno invitati a colazione.[9][11][4]
  3. (archaic) A light evening meal taken after a day of fasting.[11][5]

Word family

  • colazioncina

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 765
  6. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  8. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
  14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse