lastra

Forms

lastra f (plural lastre)^[1] The TLIO records the old forms Old Italian lasta and lastra.^[2]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[3][4][5][6] Nocentini, following Corominas, takes it as a back-formation from Italian lastricare (“to pave”): the verb was read as if it were formed with the suffix -icare, and a noun was extracted from it.^[7][3] DELI adds that the medieval records seem to give the word the technical sense “building stone”, used in church settings.^[3] Devoto–Oli takes it from the noun lastrico instead.^[8] That noun is *astracum (“floor of fired clay”), from Ancient Greek ὄστρακον (óstrakon, “potsherd”), with the article fused onto the noun.^[7][3]

The traditional explanation, which goes back to Diez, derives it from the Greek word for plasters, the source of impiastro.^[3][9] Because of its difficulties, J. Hubschmid proposed a pre-Roman base instead, which Corominas accepted for the Iberian forms.^[3] DEI also treats the word as a relic of the substrate, recorded as Medieval Latin lastra at Ravenna in 830, and compares Lombard lasa of Brescia, Spanish lasca (“stone slab”) and Portuguese lasca (“splinter”).^[10][11] Devoto reconstructs Vulgar Latin *lastra, a Mediterranean word, and GRADIT tentatively a Latin form of the same shape.^[12][13]

The word passed into Spanish as lastra in the early Middle Ages.^[7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo's treatise of 1282, in the sense of a thin solid body, of stone or another hard material, worked and used to cover buildings or pave floors.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a thin plate of fire-resistant iron put into the oven, and for the rocky layer that covers the top of a mountain.^[2] The sense “roof tile” appears in Giordano da Pisa in 1305–1306.^[3] DEI dates the sense “thin sheet” to the 14th century, a sheet of ice to the 17th and window glass to the 19th.^[10]

New techniques brought new senses.^[3] In 1857–1858 Ippolito Nievo wrote of the photographer's lastra, and the photographic plate is defined in the Enciclopedia italiana of 1932.^[3] The printing plate and, in popular use, the X-ray film are recorded in 1942, in Migliorini's appendix.^[3] Today farsi una lastra commonly means having an X-ray taken.^[13][6]

Regional uses survive: in central and southern Italy the word means a window pane, and in Tuscany a paving stone.^[8] In the Valdelsa and at Montalcino it was the name of the flat iron, recorded in 1863.^[10] The augmentative lastrone is recorded before 1455, in Lorenzo Ghiberti.^[3]

Timeline

• 830 – Medieval Latin lastra is recorded at Ravenna.^[10][11]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses lastra.^[3][2]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for a roof tile.^[3]
• Before 1455 – Lastrone appears in Lorenzo Ghiberti.^[3]
• 1857–1858 – Ippolito Nievo writes of the photographer's lastra.^[3]
• 1863 – Lastra “flat iron” is recorded in the Valdelsa.^[10]
• 1932 – The photographic plate is defined in the Enciclopedia italiana.^[3]
• 1942 – The printing plate and the X-ray sense appear in Migliorini's appendix.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. slab, sheet: a flat, usually rectangular piece of stone, metal, glass or similar, much thinner than it is long and wide: Hanno coperto il pozzo con una lastra di ardesia.^{[13][8][5][1]}
2. A sheet of ice covering a surface: Dopo la gelata il cortile era una lastra di ghiaccio.^[13][1]
3. (photography, dated) A photographic plate: glass coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, once used for negatives.^{[13][8][5][4]}
4. (colloquial) An X-ray, the film or the examination: Domani vado a fare una lastra al ginocchio.^{[13][8][5][1]}
5. (printing) A plate of zinc, lead or other material used as a matrix for stereotype or offset printing.^[8][5]
6. (regional) A window pane (central and southern Italy), or a paving stone (Tuscany).^[8][1]

Word family

• lastrone
• lastraio
• lastrame
• lastrare

Related words

• lastrico
• lastricare
• Spanish lastra

Usage notes

GRADIT lists a separate, obsolete nautical lastra, from Spanish lastre (“ballast”), recorded from the 16th century as a synonym of zavorra.^[13] The Battaglia dictionary gives it the senses “ballast” and a measure of tonnage equal to two tons, and DEI dates it to the 19th century, assimilated to the slab word.^[11][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 578
10. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2174
11. ^ 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. 8, 800
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET