Etymologically
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lista

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Pronunciation

Forms

lista f (plural liste, diminutive listìna or listerèlla or listarèlla, augmentative (usually jocular) listóna, pejorative listàccia)[1] An old variant is Old Italian listra.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a Germanic loan: DELI, Nocentini and GRADIT give a Germanic ⟨*līsta⟩ “border, strip, lath”, the word that became German Leiste and English list.[5][6][7] Devoto–Oli and Wiktionary name borrowed from Frankish *līsta (“border, strip”), and Wiktionary allows Lombardic *līsta as well, both from Proto-West Germanic *līstā;[8][1][9][10] Treccani and Zaccaria point to Old High German lista.[8][1][9][10] The word reached Italy through Medieval Latin lista, recorded in the 10th century at Naples and Cava and in 1023.[3][7]

The strip of paper on which names were written gave the sense “list”.[6] Spanish lista and Portuguese lista are the same word, while French liste (16th century) and German Liste (1597) were borrowed from Italian; the native Old French listre and list continue in French lisière (“selvage”).[6][3][11][10] The related lizza “lists for a tournament” came from French lice.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Bonvesin da la Riva's Milanese poems, of the late 13th century, and DELI's first record is Dante (1300–1313), both in the sense “long narrow strip of cloth, paper or other material”.[2][5] Medieval Latin lista is recorded at Bologna in 1274 with the verb listare “to trim with strips”.[5]

Semantic evolution

Cecco d'Ascoli, before 1327, used lista for a sheet listing things, and Giovanni Pontano, before 1503, for a long bill.[5] In Old Italian the word also meant a band of colour, a ray of light, the bar of a cross and a file of people.[2] Florentine writers used it for the silver strips of a dress and for strips of black serge worn as a belt.[13]

Lista civile, the sum voted for the expenses of the Crown, is first recorded in Venice in 1788; it came from English civil list through French liste civile.[5] Lista delle vivande “menu” is in Tommaseo (1869), though a letter of Annibal Caro of 1543 may already have it, and the lista elettorale dates from 1879.[5] In Venice lista or liston was the paved strip across St Mark's Square where people strolled, which gave listone.[5]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Medieval Latin lista at Naples and Cava.[3]
  • Late 13th century – Bonvesin da la Riva uses lista.[2]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for a strip.[5]
  • Before 1327 – Cecco d'Ascoli uses it for a written list.[5]
  • 1567 – French liste “list of names” is recorded.[11]
  • 1597 – German Liste is recorded.[11]
  • 1788 – Lista civile in the Venetian Notizie del Mondo.[5]
  • 1879 – Lista elettorale in Vincenzo Strambio.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A long narrow strip of cloth, leather, paper, wood or metal: una lista di cuoio.[7][8][14]
  2. A stripe or band of a contrasting colour: una tovaglia a liste rosse.[7][8][15]
  3. A list of names, things or figures, and the sheet it is written on: Ho scritto la lista dei regali da comprare.[7][14][15][1]
  4. A menu: Ci porta la lista, per favore?[7][15]
  5. The list of candidates a party puts forward at an election: Quale lista hai votato?.[7][15]
  6. (dated) A bill, an account to be paid.[15]
  7. (heraldry) A scroll above or below a shield bearing the motto.[7][8]
  8. A white streak on the forehead of a horse.[7]

Word family

  • listare
  • listello
  • listino
  • listone

Usage notes

Common phrases include lista nera “blacklist”, lista d'attesa “waiting list”, lista di nozze “wedding list” and a piè di lista (of a refund, against itemised receipts).[7][15][16]

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 d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2249
  4. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  5. ^ 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
  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. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ a b c Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves, p. 314
  11. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9
  14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli