Etymologically
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mattina

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Pronunciation

  • /matˈti.na/[1]

Forms

mattina f (plural mattine)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin (hōra) mātūtīna (“the morning hour”), the feminine of the adjective “of the morning” used as a noun, with hōra (“hour”) understood.[2][3][4][1] The masculine mattino continues (tempus) mātūtīnum, with “time” understood.[2][3] Rohlfs, quoted by DELI, notes that the feminine is the usual form in most of Italy and the masculine the less common one, used for example in Lucania.[2]

The adjective is derived from Mātūta (“goddess of the dawn”).[3][5] Nocentini traces the goddess's name to an adjective meaning “good” and puts it in one family with mātūrus (“ripe”), mānus (“good”) and the Mānēs (“the good gods, spirits of the dead”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *mā- also seen in Irish maith (“good”).[3]

The form shows a shortening of the Latin word: Devoto explains it as the loss of one of two neighbouring syllables, and Sabatini–Coletti as the syncope of the vowel before the stress.[6][7] DEI explains southern dialect forms and the Friulian madin of Friulian and Ladin from a shortened Vulgar Latin *mātīnum of the same kind, and notes that Latin borrowings survive in Basque and in German Mette (“matins”), from the Church's mātūtīnae laudēs (“morning praises”).[8] In the Romance languages the word replaced Latin māne (“in the morning”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is Sicilian maitina in Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250; the form mattina is in Dante.[2][7][4] The TLIO's first citation is from the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, and its Old Italian forms include matina, maitina, mactina and matin.[9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had the uses of the modern word: placed after the days of the week and after ieri or domani, in phrases such as questa mattina and la mattina per tempo, and in dalla mattina alla sera “all day long”.[9] Una mattina “one morning” began stories then as now.[9] An old sense “the east, the direction of sunrise” is in Dante's Paradiso (da mattina) and is now obsolete.[10][7][4]

Manzoni's revision of I promessi sposi changed al mattin seguente (1825) to la mattina seguente (1840).[2] The derivative mattinata named a love song sung at dawn under the beloved's window (13th century), and later, in several dialects, the din of pans and whistles made at a widower's wedding;[2] mattinata “morning performance” is a recent loan from French matinée.[2]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini writes maitina.[2][4]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses mattina.[2]
  • Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca has mattinata for the hours of the morning.[2]
  • 1840 – Manzoni replaces mattino with mattina in the final edition of his novel.[2]
  • 1869 – Tommaseo–Bellini record mattinata musicale, a morning concert.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. morning, the part of the day from dawn to midday: Ci vediamo domani mattina alle nove.[4][11][7][1]
  2. The morning as a span of time and what is done in it: Ho perso una mattina intera in banca.[11][12]
  3. di prima mattina: early in the morning, at first light.[4][11][13]
  4. dalla sera alla mattina: overnight, in a very short time.[11][13][14]
  5. fare mattina or tirare mattina: to stay up until the early morning.[4][11]
  6. (obsolete) The east.[4][7][13]

Word family

  • mattinale
  • mattiniero
  • mattino
  • mattinata
  • domattina
  • stamattina

Usage notes

After a day of the week the word is invariable: lunedì mattina, tutte le domeniche mattina.[11][7] Mattina and mattino mean the same;[7][2] mattina is the commoner word in speech, while set phrases such as di buon mattino and i giornali del mattino have mattino.[7][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2393
  9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana