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macchia

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word macchia

macchia1 stain, spot

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1275
Inherited from
Latin macula
Ultimate origin
Latin macula
Etymology tree of macchia1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin macula
Italian macchia
From the same root · macchia1
Latin maculō ← macula
Latin maculōsus ← macula

Pronunciation

Forms

macchia f (plural macchie)[1]

Etymology

The word for a stain or spot is inherited from Latin macula (“spot, stain; mesh of a net”), by way of Vulgar Latin *macla.[2][3][1] The unstressed vowel after the stress was lost and the cluster /kl/ became /kkj/, as Sabatini–Coletti describe.[4] The same Latin word gave Spanish mancha and Portuguese mancha; the Iberian and Italian languages kept the sense “spot”, while Gallo-Romance kept “mesh”, in French maille.[3][5] From French and Occitan “mesh” Italian took maglia, and the learned macula is a later borrowing of the same Latin word.[3][5][1]

The Latin word has no certain etymology.[2][3] De Vaan mentions Proto-Italic *smatlo-, from Proto-Indo-European *smh₁-tlo- (“wiping”), related to Ancient Greek σμάω (smáō, “to wipe clean”), but finds the sense “stain” from “smearing” only conceivable;[6][7][1] Devoto thought of a diminutive of a Mediterranean word.[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1275.[3] DELI's first dated senses are “patch of a different colour” before 1327 (Cecco d'Ascoli) and “mark left by grease or dye” before 1342 (Domenico Cavalca); the figurative “sin, fault” is also in Cavalca, and Bonvesin da la Riva had the northern form magia before 1315.[2]

Semantic evolution

Cavalca already writes that only a fool would throw away a precious garment “for a stain it had”.[8] The moral sense “blot, disgrace” led to “insult, outrage” in Bandello (1554), and the phrase senza macchia e senza paura (“without stain and without fear”), first said of the knight Bayard.[2][9] In painting macchia meant from 1505 (Bembo) a technique of patches of colour that render the masses; from it came macchietta, first a sketch, then an odd character (1846) and a comic stage type (1885), and the macchiaioli, the Florentine painters named so mockingly by a critic in 1862.[2]

The verb macchiare “to stain” is recorded from before 1333 and caffè macchiato, coffee with a drop of milk, from 1942.[2] Modern Italian uses macchia in medicine, astronomy (macchie solari) and television, and in the phrases a macchia d'olio “spreading fast” and a macchia di leopardo “in scattered patches”.[10][11][12]

Timeline

  • 1275 – Nocentini's date of first record.[3]
  • Before 1315 – Bonvesin da la Riva uses northern magia “fault”.[2]
  • Before 1327 – Cecco d'Ascoli uses macchia “patch of a different colour”.[2]
  • Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses macchia for a stain and for a sin.[2]
  • 1505 – Pietro Bembo uses macchia as a term of painting.[2]
  • 1862 – A critic names the Florentine macchiaioli.[2]
  • 1942 – Caffè macchiato is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A stain, a mark left by a substance on a surface: una macchia di caffè sulla camicia.[10][13][11]
  2. A patch or spot of a different colour, natural on skin, fur, plants or stone: un gatto bianco a macchie grigie.[10][13][4]
  3. (medicine) A circumscribed change of colour of the skin or mucous membranes.[10]
  4. (figurative) A fault, sin or disgrace: una macchia sulla reputazione.[10][4][11]
  5. (painting) A quick sketch in patches of colour; in the technique of the macchiaioli, a flat area of colour set beside others.[10][12]
  6. (television) A short silent film clip commented live from the studio.[10]

Word family

  • macchiare
  • macchiato
  • macchietta
  • macchiettare
  • macchiettista
  • macchiaiolo
  • smacchiare
  • smacchiatore
  • smacchiatura
  • antimacchia

macchia2 scrub, maquis

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1348–1353 Boccaccio, Decameron
Ultimate origin
Latin macula

Pronunciation

Forms

macchia f (plural macchie)[1]

Etymology

The word for dense scrub is from Italian macchia1, ultimately from Latin macula (“spot”): a thicket of bushes stands out as a dark patch on bare ground.[2][3][13][14] DELI and GRADIT give it a headword of its own, derived from the word for a spot.[2][10] Nocentini calls it an Italian formation, a transferred sense of the word for a spot, used for a stretch of vegetation set against the bare land around it.[3] The sense is also found in Sardinian maya and Spanish mancha.[5]

From Corsican usage the word passed into French maquis, recorded from 1775, at the time of the French expeditions against the Corsicans.[15][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Boccaccio's Decameron (1348–53): a great wolf comes out of a thick macchia.[2][8] In the same century Francesco da Buti explains that the low, tough, tangled bushes of the Maremma “are called macchie”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Because the thicket was a hiding place for animals and outlaws, alla macchia came to mean “in secret”: coins struck or books printed alla macchia were made without authority, with no printer's name or a false one.[2][16] Darsi alla macchia was “to become a bandit”, and in the Second World War “to join the Resistance”, though, unlike French maquis, it produced no derivatives.[2][16] In Tuscany macchia is also a live hedge, and locally the name of plants of the scrub, such as hawthorn in Tuscany and mastic at Potenza; oyster farmers use it for bundles of mastic branches sunk in the sea.[14][10][16]

The botanical term macchia mediterranea names the evergreen scrub of the Mediterranean coasts.[13][16] English took macchia as a term of geography in 1924, and French maquis gained the senses “tangle” (1902) and “Resistance” (1942).[15]

Timeline

  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses macchia “thicket” in the Decameron.[2]
  • End of the 13th century – Nocentini dates macchione, a large thicket.[3]
  • 1775 – French maquis (mackis, makis) is recorded, from Corsica.[15]
  • 1924 – English macchia is first recorded.[15]
  • 1942 – French prendre le maquis takes the sense “join the Resistance”.[15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Dense scrub of bushes of various heights;[10][13][16] macchia mediterranea, the evergreen maquis of the Mediterranean: un sentiero nascosto nella macchia.[10][13][16]
  2. (alla macchia) Secretly, clandestinely: darsi alla macchia, to go into hiding or join the partisans;[13][9][16] stampare alla macchia.[13][9][16]
  3. (Tuscany) A live hedge.[10][13]
  4. In oyster farming, a bundle of stripped mastic branches sunk in the sea for young oysters to settle on.[10][16]

Word family

  • macchione
  • macchioso
  • macchieto
  • macchiatico
  • macula
  • maglia
  • French maquis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 d e f g h i j Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  14. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2297
  15. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Macchia.” Etymologically, 10 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/macchia. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·