lanterna

Forms

lanterna f (plural lanterne)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian lentèrna and Old Italian lintèrna.^[2][3] Southern and central dialects have forms with /i/ or /e/, such as Neapolitan and Apulian lenderne.^[4][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lanterna (“lantern”), a word found in every Italian dialect.^[5][6][7][1] The GDLI calls it a learned word.^[2] The Latin noun is an adaptation of Ancient Greek λαμπτήρ (lamptḗr, “lamp, torch”), from λάμπω (lámpō, “to shine”), and its ending ⟨-erna⟩ points to an Etruscan intermediary, as in cisterna.^[5][6][8][9] Latin lucerna (“oil lamp”) influenced its form.^[1][10][2] Latin also had a variant laterna.^[11]

The word is shared by most of the Romance languages, but not Romanian: French lanterne, Occitan lanterna, Catalan llanterna, Portuguese lanterna and Spanish linterna.^[6][4][9] It also passed into Croatian and into German (German Laterne), while the Greek word itself reached Middle Iranian.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Lombard poem of Pietro da Bescapè (1274), with the sense “a device holding a light”.^[12] DELI's first record is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292: il sole riluce di sopra, sì come una candela che fosse in una lanterna (“the sun shines from above, like a candle inside a lantern”).^[5][13]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian lanterna was already a lighthouse and, figuratively, a source of spiritual light.^[12] Brunelleschi used it in 1420 for the open turret that crowns a dome, and Gregorio Dati, before 1435, for the light of a lighthouse; the jocular plural for the eyes dates from the 16th century, for spectacles from 1939–40.^[5] The architectural sense passed into German Lanterne (1712) and English.^[9]

The lanterna magica (before 1660) was the projector described by the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher in 1646; its first name was German Zauberlaterne (1679), which both French and Italian translated, and in the 18th century German showmen took it round Venice even in Lent.^[5] The lanterna cieca, the dark lantern with a movable shutter, is recorded in 1803 (Sicilian lanterna ceca in 1752).^[5] In the dialects the lantern gave names to the firefly, such as Sicilian lanterna i pecuraru.^[9] During the French Revolution the cry alla lanterna! called for hanging suspected aristocrats from the street lamps.^[10]

Timeline

• 1274 – Pietro da Bescapè uses lanterna in Lombardy.^[12]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni compares the sun to a candle in a lantern.^[5]
• 1420 – Brunelleschi uses it for the lantern of a dome.^[5]
• Before 1435 – Gregorio Dati uses it for the light of a lighthouse.^[5]
• Before 1558 – The diminutive lanternino is recorded.^[5]
• Before 1660 – Lanterna magica is recorded.^[5]
• 1803 – Lanterna cieca “dark lantern” is recorded.^[5]
• 1957 – The lamp housing of a projector is called lanterna.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lantern: a portable or fixed light inside a metal frame with glass sides: Accese la lanterna e uscì nel cortile.^[7][14][15]
2. (plural, jocular) The eyes, especially when wide open; spectacles, especially with thick lenses.^[7][14][16]
3. The lantern room at the top of a faro, holding the light; the lighthouse itself;^[7][14][15] la Lanterna, the lighthouse of Genoa.^[7][14][15]
4. (architecture) A lantern: the small windowed turret that crowns a cupola.^[7][16][17]
5. The part of a projector that houses the lamp;^[7][14][15] lanterna magica, the magic lantern.^[7][14][15]
6. (theatre) A stage light for special lighting effects.^[14][15]
7. (nautical) The octagonal joint between the lower and upper parts of a mast; rabazza.^[7][16]
8. (historical, military) A container of wood or iron filled with stones and shot, fired from a culverin.^[7][16][15]

Word family

• lanternino
• lanternaio
• lanternone
• lanternuto

Related words

• lucerna
• lampada
• lampo
• Latin lanterna
• French lanterne

Usage notes

Prendere lucciole per lanterne (“to take fireflies for lanterns”) means to make a gross mistake, and cercare con la lanterna to search with great care, after the lantern Diogenes carried by day looking for a man.^[15][17][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 575
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2164
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 754
14. ^ a b c d e f g 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 f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli