maestà

Forms

maestà f (invariable)^[1] Older forms are Old Italian maiestà, Old Italian maiestade and Old Italian maiestate.^[2][3][1] The GDLI also records magestà and magistà.^[4] In the dialects of Emilia and Piedmont the word became Emilian mistà, and further north Lombard maistà, with the sense “holy image”.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin maiestās (“greatness, dignity, sovereignty”), a learned word.^[6][7][8][9] The Latin noun is built on maior (“greater”), as honestās (“honour, respectability”) is on honor (“honour”).^[6][10][11] De Vaan points out that it keeps the comparative suffix in the form *-jes-, the same that gave maior and magis (“more”), from Proto-Indo-European *mǵ-i(V)s- (“greater”), a comparative of the word for “great”, magnus.^[12][1] The same Latin word gave French majesté, the source of English majesty, and Spanish majestad.^[7][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is maestate “imposing grandeur” in the 13th-century poet Maestro Torrigiano; the form maestà is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308).^[6][8] The title of kings and emperors, as maiestà and maiestade, is in the 13th-century Lombard Uguccione da Lodi.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for God's majesty and for the image of the Trinity, Christ or the Virgin enthroned and seen from the front, recorded in 1313.^[6][14] This is the Maestà of Duccio, Cimabue and Giotto, a name borrowed by French and German art history.^[15][2] In northern Italy and in Tuscan dialects maestà also came to mean a wayside shrine with a holy image, and Old Portuguese magestade had the same sense.^[9][5][2]

As a title it was used in the 14th century only for the emperor;^[9] DEI says the title spread to other monarchs in the 16th century from the Spanish court, where the emperor was also king.^[9] Boccaccio already wrote of the reale maestà about 1336.^[6] The derivative maestoso is recorded from 1589, and DEI holds that French majestueux was modelled on it.^[7][9]

Timeline

• 13th century – Maestro Torrigiano uses maestate for grandeur.^[6]
• 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses maiestà as a title.^[6]
• 1304–1308 – Dante writes maestà.^[6][8]
• 1313 – The word is used for an image of Christ or the Virgin enthroned.^[6][15]
• c. 1336 – Boccaccio writes of the reale maestà.^[6]
• 1589 – Maestoso is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. grandeur, imposing solemnity that inspires awe: la maestà delle montagne.^[8][2][3]
2. Nobility of bearing, dignity: Camminava con grande maestà.^[8][16]
3. Often capitalised, the title of a king, queen or emperor (majesty): Sua Maestà la regina.^[8][2][16]
4. Often capitalised, an attribute of God: la Divina Maestà.^[8]
5. (art) A Maestà, a painting of Christ or the Virgin enthroned and seen from the front: la Maestà di Duccio.^[8][2][17]
6. (regional) A shrine or tabernacle with a holy image by a road.^[8][2][3]
7. (heraldry) In in maestà, of a figure shown full face.^[2][16][17]

Word family

• maestoso
• maestosità

Related words

• maggiore
• Latin maiestas
• French majesté
• English majesty

Usage notes

Lesa maestà or delitto di lesa maestà was the crime against the sovereign or the state; figuratively it is an affront to a powerful person.^[2][3][17] Giovanni Villani already wrote of the peccati della lesa maestade.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2309
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 614