prigione

Forms

prigione f (plural prigioni)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian pregione, Old Italian priscione, Old Italian prescione and Old Italian presone.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French prison, recorded in French from 1080, from Latin prehēnsiō (“a seizing, arrest”), from prehendō (“to seize, grasp”).^[3][4][5][6] Nocentini derives the Latin noun from the contracted prēnsāre (“to grasp”), an intensive verb of the same family, and lists Occitan preiso, Catalan presó, Spanish prisión and Portuguese prisão.^[4] Meyer-Lübke gives the Latin word the meaning “prison” already, with Old French and Old Occitan also using it for “prisoner”.^[7] Zingarelli and Gabrielli derive the Italian word straight from Latin, and Wiktionary gives the French route as possible only; the learned doublet is prensione.^[8][9][1]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to a Proto-Italic present with a prefix meaning “before” and to Proto-Indo-European *gʰ-n(e)-d- (“to grab”), the source also of Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Ritmo lucchese of the early 13th century, in the form prescione;^[3] prigione itself appears in 13th-century Florentine texts.^[3] The sense from the start is “place where prisoners are held”.^[3] Sabatini–Coletti date a form prisone to the 12th century.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century the same word also meant “prisoner”, a use by metonymy that is now literary: Manzoni's soldiers “si danno prigioni” (surrender as prisoners), and Michelangelo's unfinished slaves for the tomb of Julius II are known as the Prigioni.^[11][5][12] The derivative prigioniero is recorded at Venice in 1312 and prigioniero di guerra in 1801.^[3] DELI dates prigionia to before 1342, Nocentini to the late 12th century.^[3][4]

Figurative senses followed: a dark, cramped room (1630) and any place where one feels shut in and oppressed (1891).^[3] Poets used it for the bondage of love, as in Petrarch's “mi ricondusse a la prigione antica” (led me back to the old prison).^[5][6] In the 1970s the Red Brigades called the place where they held a kidnapped person the prigione del popolo.^[6][5]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – The Ritmo lucchese has prescione.^[3]
• 13th century – Prigione appears in Florentine texts.^[3]
• 1312 – Pressoneri (prisoners) is recorded at Venice.^[3]
• Before 1342 – Prigionia (imprisonment) appears in Domenico Cavalca.^[3]
• 1630 – Prigione is used for a dark, cramped room.^[3]
• 1801 – Prigioniero di guerra is recorded.^[3]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records the sense “oppressive place”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prison, jail: È stato mandato in prigione..^[5][6][11]
2. imprisonment, a prison sentence: Gli hanno dato otto anni di prigione.^[5][6]
3. (military) Confinement as a disciplinary punishment.^[5][9]
4. (figurative) An oppressive or cramped place: Quell'ufficio è una prigione.^[5][11][12]
5. (games) The place where captured players wait, or the square where one loses turns in board games.^[5][6][11]

Word family

• prigioniero
• prigionia
• imprigionare
• sprigionare
• imprigionamento

Related words

• prendere
• prensione
• French prison

Usage notes

The masculine prigione “prisoner” is archaic or literary;^[5][11][12] GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti give it a numbered entry of its own, derived from the feminine noun.^[5][11][12] Prigione dorata, a gilded cage, is a comfortable place without freedom.^[12][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 333
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
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. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana