pianta

Forms

pianta f (plural piante)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin planta, which in Latin meant both “shoot, cutting” and “sole of the foot”.^[2][3][4][1] How the two senses are related is not clear.^[2] The usual view is that the sole is the original sense: from it came the verb plantō (“to press into the ground with the sole of the foot”), and that verb in turn gave the noun for the shoot pressed into the soil.^[2][3][5] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli give the plant and the sole headwords of their own, as DEI does, while DELI treats them under one.^[3][6][7][2]

The plant word is French plante, Occitan planta, Catalan planta, Spanish llanta (“cabbage”; as the sole, “wheel rim”) and Portuguese chanta (“seedling”); planta and planta are learned.^[3][8] From Latin it passed into Old High German pflanza, whence German Pflanze, and Old English plante, whence the English word plant.^[3][7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *plāntā.^[5][1] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *pléh₂-n̥t-eh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”), and compares plānus (“flat”);^[1][3][2] Nocentini also connects the Roman nickname Plautus, “flat-footed”.^[1][3][2] De Vaan allows this “flat” derivation but also one from the root of pellō (“to push, beat”), the sole being the part that strikes the ground in walking.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine translation of Albertano, in 1275, with the sense “plant”.^[9] An anonymous 13th-century poem has the old plural pianti in the line animali e pianti / fanno tutti loro operazione (“animals and plants all do their work”), and Dante uses pianta in the Convivio (1304–1308).^[2][10] The sense “sole of the foot” is recorded before 1292 in Bono Giamboni.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the plant came the figurative sense “stock, lineage”, which Dante already uses: tant'è del seme suo minor la pianta.^[4][9] Old Italian also said pianta della mano for the palm, a phrase REW finds widespread in Italy.^[9][8] In poetry piante could stand for the feet themselves and for footprints, as in Dante and Boccaccio.^[4][6]

Italian then developed the sense “foundations of a building”, which led to “plan of the foundations”.^[3] The architectural plan is recorded in 1554, in Pietro Cataneo's treatise on architecture, and the map of a town in 1666, in Lorenzo Magalotti;^[2][8] REW holds that this Italian sense gave French plan.^[2][8] At the end of the 18th century pianta came to mean the list of the posts in an office, the staff establishment, from which in pianta stabile “permanently”.^[2][11][4]

The phrase di sana pianta “completely, from scratch” was explained by Tommaseo as “from the very root of the plant”, but DELI suggests it may rather come from the foundations of a building, since Segneri writes fabbricare di pianta for building from the ground up.^[2]

Timeline

• 1275 – The Florentine translation of Albertano has pianta “plant”.^[9]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the word for the sole of the foot.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses pianta in the Convivio.^[2][10]
• 1554 – Pietro Cataneo uses piante for the ground plans of buildings.^[2]
• 1666 – Lorenzo Magalotti uses the word for a map of a place.^[2]
• 1797 – The sense “staff establishment” appears, perhaps for the first time.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A plant: any tree, shrub or herb with roots, stem and leaves; in biology, an organism of the plant kingdom.^[4][6][1]
2. (figurative, literary) Lineage, family stock.^[4][9]
3. (anatomy) The sole of the foot (pianta del piede); pianta della mano is the palm.^[4][6][9][1]
4. The shape of the sole of a shoe: scarpe a pianta larga.^[4][6]
5. (literary) The foot; a footprint.^[4][6]
6. (architecture) A floor plan, a drawing of a horizontal section of a building; also the layout of a building: una chiesa a pianta centrale.^[4][6]
7. A map of a town or area; a seating plan of a theatre, a classroom and the like.^[4][1]
8. The staff list of an office, its establishment;^[4][2] in pianta stabile, permanently.^[4][2]
9. (underworld slang) A prison guard.^[4]

Word family

• piantaggine
• piantagione
• piantagrane
• piantana
• piantare
• piantatore
• piantonare
• piantone
• piantina
• piantume
• piantumare
• spiantare
• spiantato

Related words

• piano
• palma
• Latin planta
• French plante

Usage notes

Piantala! “stop it!” is the imperative of piantare with a pronoun; it comes from the dialects and is recorded in Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna in the early 19th century.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 e f g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2894
8. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 770