mantice

Forms

mantice m (plural mantici)^[1] Older forms include mantaco, mantico and northern mantexi.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mantĭca (“saddlebag, knapsack”), with a change of gender.^{[5][6][7][3][1]} DELI and GRADIT take it through the plural manticae (“bags”), understood as a singular,^[5][7][8] and Sabatini–Coletti explains the old form Old Italian mantico as drawn into the common type of masculines in ⟨-o⟩.^[9] The same Latin word gave Catalan manxa (“bellows”) and dialect words for skin bags in Corsica and southern France.^[10]

The origin of Latin mantica is unknown.^[6][5] Nocentini notes that words for bags and sacks are usually loans of unknown source.^[6] The Romans connected it with manus (“hand”), and Wiktionary's Latin entry derives it from that word.^[5][1] The OLD compares mantellum (“cloak”).^[11][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Ristoro d'Arezzo in 1282, for the forge bellows.^[2][12] DELI dates the word to Cavalca, before 1342, who describes it: Li mantici sono una pelle confitta fra due legni (bellows are a hide nailed between two boards), and when the boards are opened and the hide pressed, the air comes out of the vents and kindles the fire.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The bellows that feed the organ are recorded in Old Italian alongside the smith's bellows.^[2] Dante used mantaco of the chest, in invidia move il mantaco a' sospiri (envy moves the bellows to sighs).^[7]

The folding leather hood of a carriage is called mantice by Fagiuoli, before 1742,^[5] and the word later passed to the folding top of early cars and to the covered gangway between railway carriages.^[7][3][9] In similes soffiare come un mantice is said of someone panting hard.^[12][4]

Timeline

• 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses the word for bellows.^[2][12]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca describes how bellows work.^[5]
• Before 1742 – Fagiuoli uses mantice for the hood of a carriage.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. bellows: a device that draws in air and blows it out, used to fan the fire of a forge or a domestic hearth.^[7][3][9]
2. (music) The bellows that supply air to the organ, harmonium or accordion.^[7][3][13]
3. (literary, by extension) The chest.^[7]
4. The folding hood of a carriage or a vintage car.^[7][3][9]
5. (rail) The bellows-like cover of the gangway between two railway carriages.^[7][3][13]

Word family

• mantacare
• manticiaio
• manticista

Related words

• Latin mantica

Usage notes

Soffiare come un mantice or ansimare come un mantice means to pant heavily.^[12][4] Aprirsi a mantice is said of something that opens and closes like the bellows of an accordion.^[4] A separate rare mantice, “prophetess”, is a learned word from Greek used by Colonna.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 749