mestiere

Forms

mestiere m (plural mestieri)^[1] Old and Tuscan variants include Old Italian mestieri, Old Italian mestiero and Old Italian mistiero.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French mestier (“service, office; craft; need”), recorded in French from the 11th century (modern French métier).^[5][6][7][8] The French word continues Late Latin misterium, found in Commodian (Nocentini's Vulgar Latin *misterium), a shortened form of classical Latin ministerium (“office, service”).^[5][6] That word is formed from minister (“servant, attendant”) with -ium,^[9][1] and de Vaan lists it among the derivatives of minor (“smaller, less”).^[10]

The syllable was lost under the influence of mystērium (“mystery”) in church language, in phrases such as mestier Dieu (“divine service”).^[5][6][2] Medieval Latin misterium (“craft”) is recorded at Parma in 1255.^[8] Old Occitan menestier, from which Spanish menester was borrowed, has the full form.^[11] The learned doublet is ministero.^[12][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni (before 1292), for a working activity, mostly manual, learned by practice and carried on for gain.^[5][7] Guittone d'Arezzo and Giamboni have the old form mestieri.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for “need”, as Dante did, and essere mestiero or mestieri meant “to be necessary”.^[8][4] The spelling wavered for a long time between mestiere and mestiero.^[5] Boccaccio speaks of a vil mestiere, a base trade.^[13]

The figurative sense of skill or expertise in a kind of work appears in Baiardi (mistiero, before 1511).^[5] The derivative mestierante, someone who works only for money, is in Tommaseo (1833) and in Giusti (1848).^[5][6] The DEI calls the word pan-dialectal, but in Lazio, Abruzzo, Apulia, Naples and Calabria it competes with arte, the usual term in Sardinia.^[8] In northern Italy the plural mestieri means household chores.^[1]

Timeline

• 1255 – Medieval Latin misterium “craft” is recorded at Parma.^[8]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses mestiere for a trade.^[5][7]
• Before 1511 – Baiardi uses mistiero for skill in a craft.^[5]
• 1833 – Tommaseo uses mestierante.^[5]
• 1848 – Giusti uses mestierante.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trade, a craft: an activity, mostly manual, learned through practice or apprenticeship and done for a living: Il nonno le insegnò il mestiere del vetraio.^[7][3][14]
2. By extension, any job or profession: Di mestiere fa la traduttrice.^[7][3][15]
3. An occupation carried on habitually without profit; the tasks that go with a role: il mestiere di genitore.^[7]
4. (figurative) skill, expertise gained by experience: È un attore con molto mestiere.^[7][14][1]
5. (pejorative) An activity carried on only for gain, without real involvement.^[14][16]
6. (euphemistic) In fare il mestiere, to work as a prostitute.^[16]
7. (Northern Italy, in the plural) Household chores.^[1]

Word family

• mestierante

Related words

• ministero
• ministro
• French métier
• Latin ministerium

Usage notes

Common phrases are i ferri del mestiere “the tools of the trade”, essere del mestiere “to be an expert” and rubare il mestiere “to steal someone's trade”.^[7][16][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b c 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 Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 657
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2438
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli