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magazzino

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word magazzino

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1318–1321, Pisan statute
Borrowed from
Arabic مَخَازِن
Ultimate origin
Arabic خَزَنَ
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Italian magazzino
French magasin
From the same root
English magazine ← magazzino

Pronunciation

  • /ma.ɡadˈd͡zi.no/[1]

Forms

magazzino m (plural magazzini)[1] Old forms include Old Italian magazeno, Old Italian magazino, Old Italian maghazino, Old Italian magasen and Old Italian machazeni.[2] The variant magazzeno, recorded from the 16th century, is northern Italian.[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic مَخَازِن (maḵāzin, “storehouses”), the plural of مَخْزَن (maḵzan, “storehouse”), from the root of خَزَنَ (ḵazana, “to store”).[6][7][1] GRADIT gives the source as a variant form of the singular.[8] It appears as Medieval Latin magazinus at Korčula (Curzola) in 1214, before any Italian record.[6]

French magasin probably comes from Italian, though some French dictionaries derive it from Occitan or directly from Arabic.[9][3] Spanish almacén and Portuguese armazém come from the singular with the article ال (al-).[7][10] Sicilian magasenu was influenced by the Spanish word, and Logudorese has Sardinian camasinu.[10][11] Prati explains the variant in ⟨-eno⟩ by a change of suffix and rejects a French origin for it.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Pisan statutes of 1318–1321, for a building or room where goods and materials are stored and kept;[2][7] Nocentini dates the word to 1318.[2][7] DELI's first literary example is in Giovanni Villani, who died in 1348.[6]

Semantic evolution

Ludovico de Varthema, before 1517, uses magazeno for the stock of goods a business holds.[6] The keepers of public storehouses, magazzinieri, are mentioned in a Palermo document of 1597, and Florio's dictionary of 1598 has magazziniero.[6] Tommaseo in 1869 records magazzino generale, a public store for goods in transit, glossing it with English “docks”.[6]

The sense “large shop, department store” (grande magazzino) came from French grand magasin, as Migliorini noted in 1942.[6][4] In the 18th and 19th centuries magazzino also rendered English magazine as the title of illustrated periodicals, a use Migliorini thought needless;[6][12][8] Giuseppe Baretti writes of publishing pieces “in uno di questi magazzini”.[6][12][8] Technical senses followed: the matrix store of the Linotype, the film magazine of a camera, and a broadcaster's archive of programmes.[8][5]

The Italian word passed into Byzantine Greek, the source of Modern Greek μαγαζί (magazí, “shop”), and into Ottoman Turkish, the source of Turkish mağaza.[1] English magazine came in the 1580s through French from the Italian word, and DIFIT records the Italian form in English in 1596.[13][9]

Timeline

  • 1214 – Medieval Latin magazinus is recorded at Korčula.[6]
  • 1318–1321 – First Italian record, in the Pisan statutes.[2]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses magazzino.[6]
  • 1389 – French maguesin is recorded.[9]
  • Before 1517 – Ludovico de Varthema uses magazeno for a stock of goods.[6]
  • 1596 – The Italian word appears in English as Magizini.[9]
  • 1597 – A Palermo document mentions public magazzinieri.[6]
  • 1803 – Magazzinaggio “storage charges” is recorded.[6]
  • 1869 – Magazzino generale is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A warehouse, storeroom: a building or room for storing goods and materials: Le casse sono nel magazzino dietro il negozio.[8][4][5]
  2. The stock of goods held by a shop or firm: Domani si fa l'inventario del magazzino.[8][4][5]
  3. (figurative) A great store or heap of something, magazzino di erudizione, a very learned person.[8][4][14]
  4. (usually plural) grande magazzino: a department store.[8][4][15]
  5. (photography, cinema) A light-proof magazine holding film.[4][5][15]
  6. (printing) The part of the Linotype that holds the matrices.[8][5]
  7. (television) A broadcaster's archive of programmes whose rights it holds.[8]
  8. (historical) A title of illustrated periodicals of the 18th and 19th centuries.[8][4]

Word family

  • immagazzinare
  • magazziniere
  • magazzinaggio
  • retromagazzino

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include fondi di magazzino, unsold stock, magazzini generali, public warehouses for goods deposited by third parties, and magazzino doganale, a bonded warehouse.[8][15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 615
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ 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
  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 j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  10. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 426
  13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Borrowed into

Descendants

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Magazzino.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/magazzino. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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