macina

Forms

macina f (plural macine)^[1] Old forms include macena, massena, maxena and mazine.^[2] The Tuscan form is macine.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin māchina (“device, machine”), with the sense narrowed to the apparatus of the mill,^[5][6][1] through a spoken Latin *mācina.^[7][2][8] In this sense the Latin word is used from 650; earlier Latin said machinaria mola “mill-stone worked by a machine”.^[9][4] DELI quotes Migliorini: “the machine par excellence is the miller's millstone”.^[7] The learned macchina is its doublet.^[7][1]

The word belongs to the Italian area and to Dalmatian; in the south mola prevails.^[9]

The Latin word is a borrowing from Ancient Greek μᾱχανᾱ́ (makhaná, “means, machine”), the Doric form of μηχανή (mēkhanḗ).^[1][10][11] It was borrowed very early, as the weakening of the unstressed /a/ to /i/ shows.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Sienese accounts of Mattasalà, of 1233–1243, for the large flat stone cylinder turned to crush grain or olives.^[2][5] Medieval Latin documents have the word earlier still: masina at Imola in 1148, mazina at Ravenna in 1207, macina at Venice in 1264.^[7] DELI's first Italian record is in Ristoro d'Arezzo (1282), who says the heavens turn a modo di macina, like a millstone.^[7][12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word with reference both to the weight and to the turning of the stone.^[2] From the 14th century it also means “something very heavy, unbearable”, first in a translation of St Bonaventure.^[7] Franco Sacchetti called the millstone for grain the most precious of all stones.^[12]

In medieval Italy the macina was also the tax on milling, the gabella della macina, later called the tax on the macinato.^[6][13] The verb macinare is recorded from 1318 in a statute of the hospital of Siena, and the macinato tax from 1389 at Perugia.^[7] The diminutive macinino became the hand mill for coffee or pepper before 1768, and jokingly a noisy, battered car in 1921.^[7]

Timeline

• 1148 – Medieval Latin masina is recorded at Imola.^[7]
• 1233–1243 – The Sienese accounts of Mattasalà use macina.^[2][5]
• 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses macina.^[7][6]
• 1318 – Macinare appears in a statute of the hospital of Siena.^[7]
• 14th century – The figurative sense “unbearable burden” appears.^[7]
• 1389 – Macenato, the milling tax, is recorded at Perugia.^[7]
• Before 1768 – Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni uses macinino for a hand mill.^[7]
• 1939–1940 – Macinacaffè is recorded.^[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A millstone: each of the two heavy grooved stones of a mill, one turning on the other, that grind grain or crush olives.^[6][3][8]
2. (by extension) A machine that grinds, pulverises or refines materials;^[6][11][3] (rare) a mill.^[6][11][3]
3. (figurative) A crushing burden, an oppressive worry: quel debito era una macina per tutta la famiglia.^[6][11][8]
4. (historical) In medieval Italy, the tax on milling grain.^[6][13]
5. (uncommon) Milling, grinding.^[8][11]

Word family

• macinare
• macinato
• macinino
• macinacaffè
• macinapepe
• macinatura
• macinatore
• macinazione
• macinatoio
• macinabile
• macinio
• macinello

Related words

• macchina
• mola
• Latin machina

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2300
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)