Etymologically
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macchina

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈmak.ki.na/[1]

Forms

macchina f (plural macchine)[1] The old spelling was machina.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin machina (“machine, device, contrivance”).[5][6][7][1] The Latin noun is a very early borrowing of Ancient Greek μαχανά (makhaná, “means, contrivance, machine”), the Doric form;[5][6][2] Attic has μηχανή (mēkhanḗ).[5][6][2] In Doric it named many devices of building, war and transport, and Lucretius could speak of the ⟨machina mundi⟩, the machinery of the world.[5] The change of the Greek /a/ to /i/ in the middle of the Latin word shows how early the borrowing was.[8][1]

The double /kk/ is the usual doubling after the first vowel of a word stressed on the third syllable from the end.[5][9][10] The same Latin word, inherited, gave macina “millstone”, and meccanico comes from the Greek adjective by a later route.[1][6][8] The word is French machine, recorded from the 14th century, Spanish máquina and Portuguese máquina.[11][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Questioni filosofiche, written in south-western Tuscany after 1298.[4] In Old Italian the word named a mechanical device built to do a task, a siege engine, and in philosophy the macchina del mondo, the frame of the universe.[4]

Semantic evolution

DELI records “any instrument that does work mechanically” before 1497 in Antonio Manetti's life of Brunelleschi, and the definition of a machine as a system of fixed and moving parts in 1592.[5] The figurative sense “complex organism” appears in the 15th century, and in 1714 macchina is the decorated frame on which a saint's statue is carried in procession.[5] In 1771 a person who acts mechanically is called a macchina.[5]

By antonomasia it came to mean the car: Panzini records this in 1918, and in 1931 he notes that the word had first meant the bicycle and that macchina for car, though nearly universal, was an improper use.[5] Calques include macchina infernale “bomb”, from French machine infernale, and macchina elettorale, from the American electoral machine.[11] The Italian word passed into Ottoman Turkish, whence Turkish makine and makina, and into Amharic.[1]

Timeline

  • After 1298 – The Questioni filosofiche are the first record.[4]
  • Before 1497 – Antonio Manetti uses macchina for any mechanical device.[5][7]
  • 1592 – A. Giorgi defines the machine as a system of parts.[5]
  • 1714 – Macchina names a processional float.[5]
  • 1771 – The word is used for a person acting mechanically.[5]
  • 1918 – Panzini records macchina “car”.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. machine, a device of connected parts that transforms or transmits energy or does a task, macchina da scrivere “typewriter”, macchina da cucire “sewing machine”, macchina fotografica “camera”.[7][2][12]
  2. (nautical, often plural) The engines of a ship.[7]
  3. A motor vehicle; by antonomasia the car; also a locomotive: Ho lasciato la macchina in garage.[7][9][1]
  4. (figurative) A person who works or acts mechanically, without thinking.[7][9][5]
  5. (figurative) A complex organization: la macchina organizzativa del festival.[7][9]
  6. A decorated structure on which a saint's statue is carried in procession.[7][5]
  7. (computing) A computer.[7][13]

Word family

  • macchinario
  • macchinista
  • macchinetta
  • macchinismo
  • macchinale
  • macchinina
  • macchinare
  • macchinatore
  • macchinazione
  • macchinoso
  • meccanico
  • macina
  • Latin machina

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  3. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 265
  9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2298
  12. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org