mappa

Forms

mappa f (plural mappe)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”).^[2][3][4][1] Quintilian already called the Latin word Punic, and DELI and GRADIT class it as pre-Indo-European.^[2][4][5][1] Wiktionary suggests a Phoenician source meaning “fine cloth”, of Semitic origin.^[1]

DELI numbers the old sense “cloth” and the sense “map” separately, but both continue the same Latin noun.^[2] The Roman land surveyors already used the word for any drawing of a piece of land, which may first have been painted on cloth, and, from it came Medieval Latin mappa mundi (“map of the world”).^[2][6][3] Italian mappamondo is recorded from the 13th century, and DEI, Prati and Zingarelli take the geographical sense as a shortening of that compound.^[2][7][8][9]

The Latin word was also inherited as French nappe (“tablecloth”), with ⟨n⟩ from dissimilation, and in Italian nappa “tassel”.^[3][10][8] The old sense survives in the south: Neapolitan mappata (“bundle”) and the derivative mappatella, a packed lunch wrapped in a napkin.^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first records are a document from Orvieto of 1312 with mappa “piece of cloth”, and Belcalzer's Mantuan translation (1299–1309) with the map.^[11] DELI gives a Latinised form at Venice in 1323, in Marino Sanudo Torsello, and the Italian word in Fazio degli Uberti's Dittamondo before 1357.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “napkin, tablecloth” and especially the cloth that covers an altar stayed in literary and church use, and in dialects of Campania and Abruzzo the word means a woollen headscarf worn by country women.^[2][6][9] The map sense spread from the 16th and 17th centuries: Galileo writes mappa alone for a chart.^[12][8] In surveying a mappa is a detailed plan at a large scale, and the mappa catastale records land holdings for taxation.^[13][9][14]

In the 20th century the word was extended to maps of the sky and of the Moon, to the mappa genetica of the genes on a chromosome, and figuratively to any overview of a situation (la mappa della criminalità).^[13][14][4] It is also the bit of a key that turns in the lock, from a Ligurian word meaning “strap hinge”.^[15][4][10] The map sense of Latin passed into English map.^[3]

Timeline

• 1299–1309 – Belcalzer's Mantuan translation uses mappa for a map.^[11]
• 1312 – A document from Orvieto uses mappa for a cloth.^[11]
• 1323 – The word appears in Latinised form at Venice, in Marino Sanudo Torsello.^[2]
• Before 1357 – Fazio degli Uberti uses mappa in the Dittamondo.^[2][6]
• 1733 – Mappamondo is used for a revolving globe.^[2]
• 1983 – The verb mappare is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (cartography) A detailed map or plan of an area of land, at a large scale; by extension any map or chart: Sulla mappa la strada finisce al fiume.^[4][13][14]
2. (astronomy, biology) A representation of the surface of a heavenly body, or of the position of genes on a chromosome (mappa genetica).^[13][14]
3. (figurative) A detailed overview of a situation: una mappa delle scuole della provincia.^[4][13][15]
4. The bit of a key that enters the lock and works it.^[4][15][14]
5. (literary) A napkin or tablecloth, especially the cloth on an altar.^[4][15][6]

Word family

• mappare
• mappamondo
• mappatura
• mappatella
• mappale

Related words

• nappa
• Latin mappa
• French nappe
• English map

Usage notes

Mappa catastale is the land-registry map, and mappa del tesoro a treasure map.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 760
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2358
8. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 632
9. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse