contrada

Forms

contrada f (plural contrade)^[1] Old Italian forms include contrata, cuntrada and northern contrà.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *contrāta, short for a phrase meaning “the region lying opposite”, from Latin contrā (“opposite, against”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The sense moved from “the land facing the onlooker” to “the neighbouring region”.^[4][6][7] The ⟨d⟩ for Latin ⟨t⟩ shows that the word spread through the northern dialects, which voice that consonant.^[8][9]

The same word is French contrée, Occitan contrada, Catalan contrada, Spanish contrada and Portuguese contrada,^[5][10] and Friulian has contrade.^[10] The DEI regards German Gegend, from gegen (“against”), as a calque of it.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the 12th century: GRADIT dates it to the first half of the century, and the TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, from the last quarter.^[6][2] DELI's first record is a deed in Rainerio da Perugia's formulary from the early 13th century, which places a field in de la contrada Petraficta (“in the district of Petraficta”).^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word meant a street of a town, a group of streets or quarter, the land around a town, and a region.^[2] DELI dates “country, region” to before 1237 and “town quarter” to Dino Compagni in 1310–12.^[4] The DEI notes the sense “division of a town” at Bologna in 1256.^[11] The TLIO also has strana contrada “a foreign land” and the uses “part of the sky; heaven” and “the people of a place”.^[2] Boccaccio has a woman living in una contrada chiamata Malpertugio (“in a street called Malpertugio”).^[13][14]

The sense “town quarter” survives at Siena, which is divided into seventeen contrade that compete in the Palio, and a member of one is a contradaiolo.^[6][5] In Florence a contrada is a side street off a main one.^[6][7] The poetic sense “land, region” is found in Foscolo.^[7][15] A Tuscan proverb says chi non ha casa, non ha contrada (“who has no home has no country”).^[13]

German recorded Contrad in 1398, and English used contrade in 1645.^[16]

Timeline

• 12th century – contrada is first recorded.^[6][5][2]
• Early 13th century – Rainerio da Perugia uses it for a street or district.^[4]
• Before 1237 – Re Giovanni uses it in the sense “country, region”.^[4]
• 1256 – A Bologna document uses it for a division of the city.^[11]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for a town quarter.^[4]
• 1398 – German Contrad is recorded.^[16]
• 1645 – English contrade is recorded.^[16]
• Before 1865 – contradaiolo is recorded for a member of a Sienese contrada.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A quarter or district of a town.^[6][8][7]
2. At Siena, each of the seventeen districts of the city that compete in the palio.^[6][7][1]
3. (chiefly in place names) A street of a town.^[6][15][1]
4. (Florence) A side street branching off a main street.^[6][7][8]
5. (literary) A region, land or territory.^[6][7][8][1]

Word family

• contradaiolo
• contradale

Related words

• contro
• contrario
• Latin contrā
• French contrée

Usage notes

In Old Italian the word was also written contrata.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
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 c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 114
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1078
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 669
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it