compagno

Forms

compagno m (plural compagni, feminine compagna)^[1] The feminine is compagna; an old feminine compagnessa is obsolete.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin compāniō (“companion”).^[3][4][5][1] Italian continues the nominative (Nocentini says the vocative), while the accusative gave compagnone.^[3][4][1] The Latin word is first found in the Salic Law, in the 6th century, and means “one who eats bread with another”, from cum (“with”) and pānis (“bread”).^[4][3][6]

Most scholars see in it a calque of a Germanic word of the same make-up, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐌰 (gahlaiba, “messmate”), brought into the Roman army by Germanic soldiers.^[4][5][7][8] The LEI summarizes this view, after the FEW: the smallest Germanic army units ate together and were named after their large loaf, as in Old High German galeipo, and the term was translated into military Latin; it adds that the origin is still debated.^[6][9] Tommaseo had rejected the explanation from eating bread together.^[10]

The same word is Old French compain (modern French copain), Old Occitan companh, Catalan company and Spanish compaño.^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1211, where DELI finds the sense “partner in a business”; the sense “one who habitually keeps company with others in an activity” follows in 1282.^[11][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Before 1332 Alberto della Piagentina uses the word for someone bound to others by spiritual affinity or a shared fate.^[3] The Ottimo commentary on Dante, as Tommaseo reports, distinguished sodali, companions at table, socii, companions in battle, and compagni, companions on the road.^[10] Derivatives are early: accompagnare from the early 13th century, compagnia at the end of the 13th, compagnevole in Dante.^[4][3]

As a form of address among socialists and communists, compagno is recorded in 1872, at the first national conference of the Italian sections of the International, and was already in use in the revolutionary years of 1797.^[3] DELI and Devoto–Oli take it from French compagnon, winning out over fratello and cittadino, and independent of Russian товарищ (tovarišč), which took its political sense only at the end of the 19th century;^[3][7][12] DEI instead calls it a calque of the Russian word.^[3][7][12]

Modern Italian also uses it for a partner one lives with without being married, for a team-mate, and, as an adjective, for the other of a pair (la scarpa compagna).^[5][2][1]

Timeline

• 1211 – A Florentine document uses compagno for a business partner.^[11][3]
• Early 13th century – Accompagnare is recorded.^[4]
• 1282 – The sense “companion in an activity” is recorded.^[3]
• End of the 13th century – Compagnia appears in the Novellino.^[3]
• Before 1332 – Alberto della Piagentina uses it for a companion in fate or spirit.^[3]
• 1797 – The political form of address is in use in the revolutionary years.^[3]
• 1872 – It is used at the first national conference of the Italian sections of the International.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A companion, a person who shares an activity or condition with others, as in compagno di scuola and compagno di viaggio.^[5][7][2]
2. (sport) A team-mate; a partner in a game or race for two.^[5][7][2]
3. A partner in life; especially the person one lives with without being married: Vive con il suo compagno da dieci anni.^[5][7][2][1]
4. (politics) comrade, the form of address among socialists and communists; a left-winger.^[5][7][1]
5. (usually plural) A business partner, as in firm names of the type Ferri e Compagni.^[5][7][2]
6. (astronomy) The fainter star of a binary star.^[5][2]
7. The male or female of a pair of animals.^[5]

Adjective

1. (familiar) Matching, alike; forming a pair with another: Non trovo più il guanto compagno.^[5][2][1]

Word family

• compagnia
• accompagnare
• accompagnamento
• compagnevole
• scompagnare
• scompagnato
• compagnaccio

Related words

• compagnone
• pane
• French copain

Usage notes

A compagno di strada is a fellow traveller, someone who sides with a party, especially the communists, without joining it.^[7][2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 16, 187
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 315
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1034