mento

Forms

mento m (plural menti)^[1] Old Pisan had Old Italian mente, and Lucchese still has mente.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mentum (“chin”).^[4][5][6][1] The Latin word continues in Sardinian mentu, while French menton and Occitan mentó come from the derivative mentō “one with a prominent chin”; the northern Italian dialects have the same type, as Venetian menton.^[5][3]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *məntom and Proto-Indo-European *mn̥tós (“protruding”).^[1][7] Its closest cognates are Welsh mant (“jaw, mouth”) and the Germanic word for “mouth”, Proto-Germanic *munþaz, as in Old High German mund and Old Norse munnr.^[7][5][1] The word is probably from a root Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to rise up, protrude”), seen in ēmineō (“to stand out”) and mōns (“mountain”), so that the chin was “the part that sticks out”.^[7][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Zucchero Bencivenni (1310) and in Dante's Commedia (1300–1313), with the sense it still has: the protruding lower part of the face, below the mouth.^[4][6] Dante describes a shade rising into view infino al mento “as far as the chin”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed the same.^[4][6] Old texts already used it for the chin of animals, and Dante wrote of Cerberus's chin and throat rubbed bare.^[9][10]

The jocular onor del mento “honour of the chin” for the beard goes back to Giovanni Battista Zappi (1723) and has remained in use.^[4] In zoology mento is a part of the labium of Orthoptera.^[6][10] Mentoniera, the chin rest of a violin, was taken from French mentonnière (Carena, 1846, records it for a different object; the violin sense dates from 1957).^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses mento in the Commedia.^[4]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses the word.^[4][11]
• 1723 – Zappi coins onor del mento for the beard.^[4]
• 1846 – Carena records mentoniera for an ornament worn under a hat brim.^[4]
• 1957 – Mentoniera is recorded for the violin's chin rest.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The chin, the lower part of the face below the lower lip, over the middle of the jaw: un mento sporgente.^[6][12]
2. The corresponding part of an animal's muzzle.^[13][9]
3. (zoology) In Orthoptera, part of the labium formed by the fusion of the stipites.^[6][10]

Word family

• mentoniera
• sottomento

Related words

• monte
• eminente
• Latin mentum
• French menton

Usage notes

Doppio mento is a double chin, also called pappagorgia.^[12][11] A mento volitivo is a square chin, taken as a sign of strength of character, and a mento sfuggente a receding one.^[6] In Old Italian mento was also a masculine form of menta “mint”.^[8] Mento is also the first person singular present of mentire.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2425
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org