mandria

Forms

mandria f (plural mandrie)^[1]

Etymology

DELI calls it learned: it is borrowed from Latin mandra, from Ancient Greek μάνδρα (mándra, “sheepfold, enclosure”), which has no likely etymology.^[2][3][1] Nocentini instead holds that Latin mandra, “a drove of pack animals”, came down directly, since Sardinian mandra (“herd; enclosure”) and Romanian mandră guarantee a popular transmission.^[4] DELI itself notes that the word and its derivatives appear in Tuscan place names from the 11th century, and DEI from the 10th.^[2][5] The older Italian form was mandra; the form with the ending ⟨-ia⟩ is first recorded in Francesco da Barberino.^[2][6]

The word is also Catalan mandra and Spanish mandra.^[7] The transferred senses of mandra (“laziness”), Spanish mandria (“coward”) and Portuguese mandria (“idleness”) are probably borrowings from Italian, where a phrase with the older form meant “to laze about”.^[4][7] Meyer-Lübke rejected a derivation of madrigale from the word on phonetic grounds and took the variant mandriale for a reshaping after the word for the herd.^[7] DEI regards the Greek word as probably a relic of the Mediterranean substrate.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a document of San Gimignano of 1228.^[6] DELI dates mandra “herd of cattle” to Pallamidesse, who died before 1280, and mandria to Francesco da Barberino, who died before 1348.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for any multitude of animals of one kind, for pasture land and for a fenced pen; figuratively it named the faithful or the blessed, and a crowd of people.^[6] Dante's Paradiso speaks of quella mandra fortunata, “that fortunate flock”.^[8] The scornful sense “disorderly crowd” is first recorded in Bartolomeo da San Concordio, who died before 1347.^[2]

The sense “enclosure, fold” has stayed in southern Italy, in Logudorese and in Spanish, while in Italian it is now archaic.^[5][9][10] DEI also records the sense of a fenced field where young horses run free.^[5] Treccani notes that mandria is used for large animals, especially hoofed ones, and gregge for smaller ones.^[11]

Timeline

• 10th–11th century – The word appears in Tuscan place names.^[2][5]
• 1228 – A San Gimignano document has the first record.^[6]
• Before 1280 – Pallamidesse uses mandra for a herd of cattle.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses the derivative mandriano “herdsman”.^[2][4]
• Before 1347 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses it for a disorderly crowd.^[2]
• Before 1348 – The form mandria appears in Francesco da Barberino.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A herd of large animals, domestic or wild, such as cattle, horses or buffalo.^{[3][9][12][10][11]}
2. (derogatory) A disorderly crowd of people: una mandria di ragazzini urlanti.^{[3][9][12][10][11]}
3. (archaic) A pen or enclosure for livestock.^{[3][9][10][13]}

Word family

• mandriano

Related words

• mandra
• armento
• Ancient Greek μάνδρα (mándra)

Usage notes

Mandra is the old and literary variant.^[9][10][12] The dictionaries give armento and branco as near synonyms.^[12][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2343
6. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli