lenza

Forms

lenza f (plural lenze)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin lĕntea, found in inscriptions for classical Latin lintea “made of linen”, the feminine of an adjective that went with words such as “cord”, “band” or “strip”.^[2][3] Devoto–Oli takes it instead from a Vulgar Latin plural of the neuter noun linteum (“linen cloth”), and the Treccani dictionary and Battaglia's dictionary from Late Latin lenteum, with the vowel of lentus (“pliant, flexible”).^[4][5][6] Forms such as Medieval Latin lencia “band” and lentia are also recorded, the second in the 11th century at Amalfi.^[6][7]

The same word is Catalan llensa “fishing line” and Spanish lienzo “strip of cloth”.^[3] Southern dialects keep older senses: Sicilian lenza is a strip of cloth, and Calabrian forms mean both “strip of cloth” and “strip of flat land”, as in Corsica.^[2]

Latin linteus is related to līnum (“flax; linen”), which also gave lino.^[2][3] De Vaan notes that its short vowel and its ⟨t⟩ cannot come from the noun directly and point to an unrecorded noun meaning “linen”; the variation suggests that the word for flax was a loan, with no single Indo-European form behind it.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plural lence “bands of linen” appears in a 12th-century document from Pavia, the Dichiarazione di Paxia.^[2][9] GRADIT dates the word to before 1273, the date DEI gives for the form lensa.^[10][11] The fishing line is first named in the 13th century by Dante da Maiano: sì come il pesce ch'è preso a la lenza (“like the fish that is caught on the line”).^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a band or strip of linen, a sense the old dictionaries still record, with a 14th-century verb lenzare “to bandage”.^[2][11][12] In the 14th century lensa also meant a geometrical line, and Florio in 1598 has lenza for any thin cord.^[2] In the 15th and 16th centuries a lenza was also a diadem of silk or metal threads set with jewels, worn round the forehead by women.^[11] Old Italian also had far lenza “to make a league”, in Antonio Pucci.^[12]

The fishing line became the main sense, and Old Italian texts already speak of fishing a lenza and with nets.^[6][12] In shipyards a lenza is a thin cord soaked in paint and stretched to mark straight lines on timber.^[10][5] In Calabria, Pisa and Corsica the word names a strip of land, and in agriculture a terrace on a hillside;^[7][9] DEI records this use in 1930.^[7][9] In 20th-century Roman slang a lenza is a sly, knowing person.^[7][5] Tunisian Arabic borrowed the word.^[1]

Timeline

• 12th century – The plural lence “linen bands” appears in the Dichiarazione di Paxia.^[2][9]
• 1273 – DEI's date for the form lensa.^[11]
• 13th century – Dante da Maiano uses lenza for the fishing line.^[2]
• 14th century – Lensa is used for a geometrical line.^[2]
• 1598 – Florio gives lenza for a cord in general.^[2]
• 1930 – DEI records lenza for a strip of land.^[7]
• 20th century – Roman slang lenza “sly person” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. fishing line: a thin, strong line, today usually of nylon, with one or more hooks at the end.^[10][4][9]
2. (nautical) In shipyards, a thin cord soaked in paint and stretched to mark straight lines on timber.^[10][4][5]
3. (agriculture) A strip of cultivated land on a terraced hillside.^[10][9][13]
4. (figurative, colloquial, chiefly Roman) A crafty, shrewd person: quel tipo è una vera lenza!^[10][4][5]
5. (archaic) A band or cloth of linen.^[10][4][9]
6. (archaic) A league, an alliance.^[10][14]

Word family

• lenzare
• lenzara
• allenzare

Related words

• lino
• lenzuolo
• Latin linteus
• Latin linum

Usage notes

The cant word lenza “water”, Venetian lenza “water” and Veronese lensa “downpour” are a separate word: Prati derives them from the name of the river Enza, popularly la Lenza.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2203
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2202
12. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 586