Etymologically
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cucina

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Pronunciation

  • /kuˈt͡ʃi.na/[1]

Forms

cucina f (plural cucine)[1] Old forms include Old Italian cocina, Old Italian cusina and Old Italian coxina.[2] An old masculine cocino or cucino “kitchen” is also recorded.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cocīna (“kitchen”), the Late Latin form of classical coquīna, a derivative of coquō (“to cook”).[5][6][7][1] The Late Latin verb cocīnō stood beside it in the same way for classical coquīnō.[5] The Lombard of Ticino keeps the classical form in cuvina (“makeshift kitchen”).[8][9]

The word is found across Romance: French cuisine, Occitan cozina, Catalan cuina, Spanish cocina and Portuguese cozinha, but not in Romanian.[6][9][8] It was borrowed early into the Germanic languages, giving German Küche and the source of kitchen, and into Welsh cegin.[6][9]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from Proto-Italic *kʷekʷe/o- (“to cook”), from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ-e/o- (“to cook”), with the first consonant assimilated to the second, as in quīnque (“five”).[10][1] The same root gave Ancient Greek πέσσω (péssō, “to cook, ripen”) and Sanskrit पचति (pácati, “cooks”).[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Roman Miracole de Roma of the mid-13th century, with the sense “the part of a building where food is prepared and cooked”.[2] DELI's earliest date is before 1294, in Brunetto Latini, where the word means “cooked food”, and the sense “kitchen” is found at the end of the 13th century in Folgore da San Gimignano, who closes a day's hunting with wine and “the kitchen smoking” (fumar la cucina).[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “the art of cooking” appears in the 14th century, in the Italian translation of Seneca.[5] Old Italian also used the word for a shop selling cooked food, for the catering of a community and for vegetables to eat.[2] Tuscan proverbs such as vecchia gallina ingrassa la cucina (“an old hen fattens the kitchen”) were recorded by Tommaseo.[11]

The sense “cooking stove” probably arose at sea: in 1813 Stratico describes the ship's cucina as a large square box serving as a hearth, and praises the iron stoves invented by an English maker.[5] The cucina economica was a wood or coal stove with an oven and often a water tank.[12][13] In the 20th century the word came to mean the kitchen furniture, as in cucina americana or cucina all'americana for fitted units, and in journalists' slang the editorial work on a newspaper.[7][3][12] Cucinino and cucinotto for a small kitchen are first recorded in 1965 and 1955.[5][6]

Timeline

  • Mid-13th century – The Miracole de Roma have the word for a kitchen.[2]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for cooked food.[5][6]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo has the verb cucinare in a figurative sense.[5]
  • Late 13th century – Folgore da San Gimignano uses it for the kitchen.[5]
  • 14th century – The sense “art of cooking” appears in the translated Seneca.[5]
  • Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses cuciniere “cook”.[5]
  • 1813 – Stratico describes the ship's stove as a cucina.[5]
  • 1955 – Cucinotto “kitchenette” is recorded.[6]
  • 1965 – Cucinino is recorded in the Zingarelli supplement.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. kitchen, the room where food is prepared and cooked: Ceniamo in cucina, fa più caldo.[7][14][15]
  2. The furniture and fittings of a kitchen: Hanno montato la cucina nuova sabato.[7][14][15]
  3. A stove, cooker: una cucina a induzione.[7][14][15]
  4. cooking, the art of preparing food; a style of cooking, cuisine: la cucina siciliana.[7][14][15]
  5. (colloquial) Cooked food: In corridoio si sentiva odore di cucina.[7][12]
  6. (journalism, slang) Editorial work on a newspaper; the editorial staff.[7][12]
  7. In a dairy, the room where cheese is made.[7][15]

Word family

  • cucinare
  • cuciniere
  • cucinino
  • cucinotto
  • cucinetta
  • retrocucina

Usage notes

Cucina is also the third person singular present and the imperative of cucinare.[16] Bassa cucina is a figurative name for humble, unseen work, and uso di cucina the right to use the kitchen in a shared flat.[14][17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 355
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1183
  9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  15. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  16. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana