mezzano

Forms

mezzano (feminine mezzana, masculine plural mezzani, feminine plural mezzane)^[1] An older spelling is Old Italian mezano.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mediānus (“in the middle”), formed from medius (“middle”) with the suffix -ānus.^[2][3][4][5] The learned borrowing of the same Latin word is mediano, so the two are doublets.^[1][6] The Latin ⟨-dj-⟩ gave ⟨-zz-⟩ here, as in mezzo, while in moggio it gave ⟨-gg-⟩.^[7]

The same word is French moyen and Romansh mezzaun; Spanish mediano is a learned form.^[3][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Z. Bencivenni has mezano “middle, medium” in 1310, and the form mezzano is in the Fatti di Alessandro Magno and in Dante in the 14th century.^[2] The Zingarelli dates the word to about 1250.^[10] The noun “go-between” follows soon after: mezano in D. Compagni (1310–12) and mezzano in G. Villani before 1348.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Early on the adjective was used of a social rank between noble and commoner, in Simintendi in the 14th century, and of quality, “middling, mediocre”, in Alberti in 1436.^[2] Boccaccio speaks of the common people and “perhaps a great part of the middling” (della mezzana).^[10][5]

The noun first meant a mediator between parties, a peacemaker or arbiter: Compagni tells how he and Lapo di Guazza acted as go-betweens with the priors, and Villani of a man who made himself a mezzano to reach an agreement.^[11] By extension it became the pander, the go-between of illicit love, already in Simintendi.^[2] Treccani notes that parts of Tuscany still use the neutral sense, while elsewhere only the pejorative one survives.^[12]

Technical senses followed: a well-fired brick, a mezzanine floor, the third tine of a stag's antler, a space in typesetting.^[13][14] The feminine mezzana became the mizzen sail, and Italian passed that word on to Spanish and Portuguese.^[3][8] The pasta called mezzani reached English in 1895.^[15]

Timeline

• 1310 – Z. Bencivenni writes mezano “middle”.^[2]
• 1310–1312 – D. Compagni uses mezano “go-between”.^[2]
• 14th century – Dante and the Fatti di Alessandro Magno have mezzano;^[2] Simintendi uses it of social rank and of a pander.^[2]
• 1436 – L. B. Alberti uses it for “mediocre”.^[2]
• Mid-16th century – The derivative mezzanino “mezzanine” is recorded.^[3]
• 1895 – English mezzani, the pasta, is first recorded.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. In the middle, intermediate in a scale of sizes or values: statura mezzana.^[13][5][10]
2. Of a child, born between the eldest and the youngest: la sorella mezzana.^[13][5][12]
3. (literary) Of social rank, between the nobility and the common people.^[13][5]
4. Mediocre, of ordinary quality.^[13][10]
5. (rhetoric) Of style, between the humble and the sublime.^[13][5]
6. (agriculture) Of soil, of medium texture.^[13][12]

Noun

1. A go-between, intermediary or broker.^[13][5][6]
2. A procurer, someone who arranges illicit love affairs; a pander.^[13][5][6]
3. (uncommon) A mezzanine floor.^[13][5]
4. (building) A well-fired, porous and strong brick.^[13][5]
5. (zoology) The third tine of a stag's antler.^[13][5]
6. (numismatics) An old coin worth half an imperial denaro.^[5][14]

Word family

• mezzana
• mezzanino
• mezzanamente
• mezzanità
• mezzanella

Related words

• medio
• mezzo
• mediano
• Latin mediānus

Usage notes

In most of the adjectival senses medio or di mezzo is now far more usual;^[12] mezzano remains the normal word for the middle child (il figlio mezzano).^[12] A separate adjective mezzano, recorded in 1956, means “of Mezzana”, a place in the province of Trento.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10, 312
12. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it