Etymologically
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mappa

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Pronunciation

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

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