mistura

Forms

mistura f (plural misture)^[1] An older and popular Tuscan form is mestura.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin mixtūra (“mixture”), also spelled mistūra in Latin.^{[5][6][7][8][1]} The Latin noun is formed from mixtus (“mixed”), the past participle of misceō (“to mix”).^[7][4][9]

The older form mestura is the popular outcome, the same as Old French mesture, Old Occitan mestura and Spanish mestura, while Sardinian mistura and Portuguese mistura keep ⟨i⟩.^[10][2][11] Late Latin mixturare “to mix” is recorded in Palladius, and in the 9th century at Ravenna.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Jacopone da Todi, in the last decades of the 13th century, for a mixture of several substances.^[2] DELI dates the word to Dante's Convivio (1304–1308).^[13]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for a mixture of substances or colours, for a medicinal ointment and for a poison, and figuratively for a blend of feelings or qualities.^[2] It also meant an impure addition that spoils a substance: Boccaccio describes a little lake whose water, senza avere in sé mistura alcuna, showed its bottom clearly.^[2][14] The Vita di Cola di Rienzo tells of a mestura of sulphur, pitch, oil and turpentine thrown onto a siege engine.^[15]

In the 19th century the word took on the sense of an adulterated mixture (Petrocchi, 1891), and today it often means a nasty brew.^[13][8] In organs it named a mixture stop (1826), and moneta di mistura is billon, coin of silver alloyed with more copper than silver.^[12][4][6]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Jacopone da Todi uses mistura.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it in the Convivio.^[13]
• 1698 – The participle misturato is recorded in Tassoni.^[12]
• 1826 – Mistura is recorded as the name of an organ stop.^[12]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records the sense “adulterated mixture”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mixture of different elements or substances: una mistura di sabbia e cemento.^[8][4][6]
2. An unpleasant mixture, especially of drinks or food; a concoction or adulterated drink.^[8][4][11]
3. (figurative) A blend of contrasting feelings or qualities.^[8][6]
4. (literary) An addition of foreign or inferior elements.^[4][16]

Word family

• misturare

Related words

• mescolare
• mestare
• mischiare
• misto
• mestura
• Latin misceō

Usage notes

Moneta di mistura is billon coinage, and the old pane di mistura a bread of wheat flour mixed with other cereals.^[8][4][6] Senza mistura means pure, with nothing added.^[17][16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
6. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2478
13. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)