madrina

Forms

madrina f (plural madrine)^[1] The old form is matrina.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *matrīna, recorded as Medieval Latin mātrīna and formed from Latin māter (“mother”) with the suffix -īna.^[4][5][1] The Medieval Latin word first appears in 753 and DEI finds it in the glosses.^[1][6] It names the woman linked to a godchild through baptism, as comare does.^[4] Devoto–Oli and Treccani instead treat the Italian word as formed from madre, and Devoto sees the influence of the Italian word for “mother” on the Latin form.^[7][8][9]

DEI places the word in Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria and in western Romance.^[6] It is Old French marrine (modern French marraine, with a change of suffix), Occitan mairina, Catalan madrina, Spanish madrina and Portuguese madrinha.^[4][10][11] Compare Sicilian parrina.^[1]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *mātēr and Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”).^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Francesco da Buti's commentary on Dante's Paradiso (Pisa, 1385–1395), which glosses “the lady who gave assent for him” as la santula, cioè la matrina, che lo presentò al batesimo, “the godmother, that is the matrina, who presented him at baptism”.^[2][13][3] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and GRADIT date the word to before 1306.^[4][7][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a midwife; the Vite di Plutarco say that the goddess Juno took care to be madrina at Alexander's birth.^[14][5] The modern spelling madrina is in Florio's dictionary of 1598.^[13] In Manzoni's time the madrina of a girl about to become a nun was a lady who guided and escorted her until she entered the convent.^[3]

From the 19th century the word spread from baptism to other ceremonies: the madrina della bandiera holds a corner of the flag while it is blessed (1869), the madrina presides at an inauguration (1905) or at the launching of a ship.^[13][8] The madrina di guerra, a woman who writes to and sends gifts to soldiers she often does not know, was current during the First World War, though first recorded in a dictionary in 1945.^[13] DEI dates madrinaggio to 1946 and madrinare to 1947, as a calque of Spanish amadrinar, coined during the Spanish Civil War.^[6]

Timeline

• 753 – Medieval Latin mātrīna is first recorded.^[1]
• Before 1306 – The date Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and GRADIT give for the first record.^[4][7][5]
• 1385–1395 – Francesco da Buti uses matrina for “godmother”.^[2][13]
• 1598 – Florio records madrina.^[13]
• 1869 – Madrina della bandiera is recorded.^[13]
• 1905 – The sense “woman who presides at an inauguration” is recorded.^[13]
• 1945 – Madrina di guerra is recorded.^[13]
• 1947 – Madrinare is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. godmother, the woman who presents a child at baptism or confirmation and takes on its Christian upbringing: Mia zia sarà la madrina di Luca.^[5][7][15]
2. (historical) A lady who guided a girl about to take the veil.^[5][3]
3. A woman who acts as witness at a wedding.^[5]
4. A woman who presides at a ceremony, such as an inauguration or the launching of a ship.^[5][7][15]
5. A woman, or a person or body, who sponsors a charity or supports needy children;^[5][7][16] madrina di guerra, a woman who wrote to and comforted soldiers at the front.^[5][7][16]
6. An actress who plays in the first performance of a show.^[5]
7. (archaic, regional) A midwife.^[5][7][15]

Word family

• madrinaggio
• madrinare
• madrinato

Related words

• madre
• comare
• padrino
• Latin māter
• French marraine

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 402
4. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2308
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli