davanzale

Forms

davanzale m (plural davanzali)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian davanti (“in front”),^[2][3][4][5] its /ts/ showing the influence of the verb avanzare (“to project, jut out”).^[6][5] The LEI places it among the Italo-Romance compounds of Latin de (“from”) with Late Latin abante (“in front”), itself a compound of ab and ante recorded from the 2nd century;^[6][7] Nocentini likewise derives it from the same Latin adverbial phrase.^[6][7] GRADIT calls the origin uncertain but probably connected with the adverb, and the TLIO derives it from Old Italian davanzi (“in front”).^[8][9]

Devoto explains it as a cross of davantale (“apron”) with the verb, and DEI compares the apron word and Lombard scòs, which means both “lap” and “windowsill”.^[10][3] Treccani gives a derivation from the verb alone in the sense “to jut out” as an alternative, an explanation Baldinucci had already given: the sill is named for the way it projects from the wall.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in a Sienese document of 1325, uses davanzale for an altar frontal, the hanging that covers the front of an altar.^[9] The windowsill appears in Franco Sacchetti's tales, in 1397 or shortly before 1400: a cage is to be put “on the sill, for the sill is wide” (mettetelo su, che 'l davanzale è largo).^[2][6][12]

Semantic evolution

Besides the windowsill the word was used for several projecting or covering parts of buildings and furniture: a stone shelf over a fireplace (Oudin 1643), the altar frontal again in Sienese and in Oudin, the rim of a tomb (1686), the front of an altar step (1788), the slab joining the columns of a balustrade (from 1868) and the parapet of a pulpit (1907).^[6] In railway language it was used for the outward-opening window of a carriage, and davanzalino for the small inner window giving on the corridor.^[6]

In weaving it is a name for the breast beam of the loom.^[8][11] The jocular sense of a full female bosom is recorded in Sienese, and is now common in Italian.^[6][4][13] Gozzano once used davanzali for the people sitting in front of him at school.^[12]

Timeline

• 1325 – A Sienese document uses davanzale for an altar frontal.^[9]
• 1397 – Franco Sacchetti uses it for a windowsill.^[6][2]
• 1643 – Oudin's dictionary records it for a shelf over a fireplace.^[6]
• 1865 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the diminutive davanzaletto.^[6]
• 1868 – Rovani uses it for the slab of a balustrade.^[6]
• 1907 – Carducci uses it for the parapet of a pulpit.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A windowsill: the slab of stone, marble or wood that tops the parapet of a window, on which the jambs rest and on which one leans to look out: Lasciò il vaso di gerani sul davanzale.^{[8][4][13][14]}
2. (figurative, jocular) A very ample female bosom.^[4][13][1]
3. (weaving) The breast beam of a loom, also called pettorale.^[8][11]

Word family

• davanzalino
• davanzaletto

Related words

• davanti
• avanzare
• davantale
• pettorale

Usage notes

In building trade language the windowsill is usually called soglia, like the corresponding part of a door.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1217
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
6. ^ 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. 1, 10
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 45
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli