mangano

Forms

mangano m (plural mangani)^[1] It was also written Old Italian manghani in the plural.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin manganum (“machine”), a Late Latin word of the 4th century, which is from Ancient Greek μάγγανον (mánganon).^[3][4][1] Nocentini glosses the Greek word as “windlass; catapult”, properly “trick, contrivance”.^[4] DELI notes that it had many other senses, some far apart, such as “philtre, spell”, and calls its origin obscure, while Zingarelli calls it Indo-European.^[3][5] The Latin word is found in Saint Augustine and in the glosses, and Medieval Latin manganus “machine for hurling missiles” is recorded in 1148.^[6]

The word belongs to the Italian area.^[6] Meyer-Lübke lists Calabrian and Sicilian manganu “hemp brake” and the derivative Neapolitan manganielle “winch”, and Old Occitan manganel “stone-throwing engine”, which passed into Old French mangonel.^[7] DEI adds that the word reached Arabic, which passed it on to Catalan almajaner and Old Spanish almajanech, and that Middle High German mange “ballista” comes from the same source.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, at the beginning of the 13th century, in the sense “war engine that hurls missiles by leverage”: e mangani e preere per stremir le contrade (“and mangonels and stone-throwers to terrify the countryside”).^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the mangano was a beam pivoted on a wooden frame, with a counterweight at one end and a spoon for the stone or the pot of burning matter at the other.^[9][8] Bono Giamboni and Giovanni Villani use it, with the verb manganare “to hurl with the mangonel” and manganeggiare.^[10] It also meant any machine for lifting great weights, and Tommaseo cites a list of “levers, screws, windlasses, mangani” from a treatise on mechanics.^[11]

The textile sense came from the same idea of a heavy machine: at Venice manganare meant “to calender cloth” in 1265 and the mangano for calendering is recorded in 1358.^[6] In Florence the noun manganatura is found in 1319, and Citolini (1561) describes the mangano as a weighted engine for giving a gloss to linen and cloth.^[3] Tommaseo's dictionary has it in 1869 as a large ironing machine.^[3] Its diminutive manganello was first a small catapult and then a cudgel, and Mussolini used manganellare “to beat with a cudgel” in 1921.^[3][12]

Timeline

• 1148 – Medieval Latin manganus, a machine for hurling missiles, is recorded.^[6]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses mangano for the war engine.^[3][2]
• 1265 – Manganare “to calender” is recorded at Venice.^[6]
• 1319 – Manganatura, the pressing of cloth, is recorded in Florence.^[3]
• 1358 – A mangano for calendering cloth is recorded at Venice.^[6]
• 1561 – Citolini describes the weighted machine that gives a gloss to cloth.^[3]
• 1869 – Tommaseo's dictionary records the large ironing machine.^[3]
• 1921 – Mussolini uses manganellare “to beat with a club”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history, military) A medieval siege engine like a catapult, a pivoted beam that hurled stones or incendiary pots.^[13][14][15]
2. (textiles) A calender: a machine that presses linen, hemp or jute cloth between heavy rotating rollers to make it smooth and compact; also the place where this is done.^[13][14][16]
3. A large mangle or ironing machine for sheets and towels in hotels, hospitals and boarding schools.^[13][14][1]
4. (figurative) A heavily built person.^[16][17]

Word family

• manganare
• manganello
• manganella
• manganatura
• manganeggiare

Related words

• Latin manganum
• Ancient Greek μάγγανον (mánganon)

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2345
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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, 649
9. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 626
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli