Etymologically
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mangiare

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Pronunciation

  • /manˈd͡ʒa.re/[1]

Forms

mangiare (first-person singular present màngio, first-person singular past historic mangiài, past participle mangiàto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old and regional forms include Old Italian manzare, Old Italian magnare and Old Italian magiare.[2][3] Central Italy and Rome have magnare, and Venice has Venetian magnar.[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French mangier (recorded in 1080), the regular outcome in French of Latin mandūcō (“to chew; to eat”), through an intermediate Vulgar Latin *mandicāre.[6][7][8][1] The Latin verb was formed from the noun ⟨mandūcō⟩ “glutton”, itself from mandō (“to chew”).[7][9] De Vaan relates that verb to Sanskrit मन्थन्ति (mánthanti, “they whirl, rub”) and Lithuanian mę̃sti (“to mix”).[9][7]

The Latin verb was inherited by Italian as Old Italian manicare and manducare, and it is Sardinian mandigare and Romanian mânca.[7][10] The French verb displaced these native forms in Italy; it was also taken by Catalan menjar and Portuguese manjar.[3][10] Dante used ⟨mangiare⟩, ⟨manducare⟩ and ⟨manicare⟩, the first as the plain, practical word, though DELI doubts that the stylistic difference was as clear then as it seems now.[6] Benvenuto Terracini thought that the noun ⟨mangiare⟩ “meal”, not a word of humble kitchens, helped the French verb in.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Testimonianze di Travale of 1158, for “to take food, chew it and swallow it”;[6][2] the watchman's complaint is quoted by GDLI: “Guaita, guaita male: non mangiai ma mezo pane” (watchman, poor watchman: I ate only half a loaf).[11] About the same time the word appears in Medieval Latin documents as a nickname, especially in personal names.[6]

Semantic evolution

The figurative “devour” is in Dante's Commedia (1300–1313), “to eat into, corrode” in Zucchero Bencivenni in the 14th century, “to use up” in Vasari in 1550, “to squander” in Tommaseo–Bellini in 1869, and “to take a piece” at chess, draughts or cards in 1879.[6] In Old Italian it also meant to rob and oppress.[2] The noun mangiare “eating” is in Guittone d'Arezzo and “food” in Bono Giamboni, both before 1294.[6]

Mangeria was used in the Levant in the 14th century for an arbitrary toll, which the traveller Giorgio Gucci glossed as robbery, and, from 1500 for illicit profits.[6] The Roman variant magnare threatened mangiare from the 18th century, because even in Tuscany it seemed more refined: Anton Maria Salvini complained that ladies said magnare out of affectation.[6] Compounds of mangia- and a noun are still formed: mangiapreti “priest-hater” (1881), mangiadischi (1968), a portable record player, and after it mangianastri (1970).[6]

The verb was borrowed into Dalmatian manciur, and English slang had mungaree “food” from 1846.[1][12]

Timeline

  • 1158 – The Testimonianze di Travale use mangiai.[6][2]
  • 1282 – Mangiadoia “manger” is in Ristoro d'Arezzo.[6]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses the noun mangiare.[6]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses the verb for “devour”.[6]
  • 14th century – The sense “corrode” is recorded.[6]
  • 1846 – English slang mungaree “food” is recorded.[12]
  • 1879 – The sense “take a piece” in games is recorded.[6]
  • 1968 – Mangiadischi is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To eat, to take food into the mouth, chew it and swallow it; used absolutely, to take food: Mangio una mela ogni mattina.[8][4][13]
  2. (intransitive) To have a meal: Oggi mangiamo dalla nonna.[8][13][1]
  3. To eat habitually as food, or to eat prepared in a certain way.[8]
  4. Of mice, moths and other animals, to gnaw or eat away, (colloquial) of mosquitoes, to bite all over.[8][13]
  5. To corrode or erode; of an engine, to consume fuel.[8][13]
  6. To use up, to squander money or goods; to eat into savings.[8][13]
  7. (figurative) To make illicit gains, especially from public office.[13][1]
  8. In chess, draughts and some card games, to capture a piece or card of the opponent.[13][1]

Noun

  1. Eating; the food one eats, a meal; a diet: Il mangiare della mensa non è male.[8][13][4]

Word family

  • mangereccio
  • mangeria
  • mangiabile
  • mangiafumo
  • mangiapane
  • mangiatoia
  • mangiatore
  • mangime
  • mangione
  • mangiucchiare
  • rimangiare
  • mangiadischi
  • mangianastri
  • mangiapreti
  • mangiasoldi
  • manducare
  • manicare
  • mandibola
  • Latin manduco

Usage notes

The ⟨i⟩ is only a spelling for the sound /dʒ/ and is not written before ⟨e⟩: mangio, but mangerò.[4][14] Common phrases include fare da mangiare “to cook”, mangiare in bianco “to eat plain food”, mangiare la foglia “to see through a trick”, and the proverb l'appetito vien mangiando.[15][16][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2346
  4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  5. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 626
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 654
  12. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana