quaderno

Forms

quaderno m (plural quaderni)^[1] Old forms include quadrino, quaerno and quaterno.^[2] Lucca had Old Italian quiderno, influenced by quinterno.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quaternī (“four at a time”), a distributive adjective usually found in the plural, referring to the sheets bound together in fours.^[4][5][6] Quaternus is formed from quater (“four times”) and the suffix -nus, and quater from quattuor (“four”).^[1][7] The word was common in this sense in the Medieval Latin of Italy from the 12th century.^[3]

The ⟨d⟩ for Latin ⟨t⟩ is a sign of popular transmission: Sabatini–Coletti contrast it with quaterna, and Devoto takes it as evidence that the word came through northern Italy.^[8][9] It is western pan-Romance: Old French caer (modern French cahier), Old Occitan cazern, Spanish cuaderno and Portuguese caderno, and Old Friulian had codèr.^[5][10][3] The same Latin word is behind caserma, through Occitan cazerna, a guardhouse for four soldiers.^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine bankers' book of 1211, for a gathering of sheets folded in two and set one inside another, often sewn together.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In manuscripts and early printed books a quaderno was the gathering of four sheets folded in two, giving sixteen pages.^[2][11] Brunetto Latini already rhymes carta in quaderno with inferno.^[2] The word also named a book of accounts and a register.^[3] Old and rural senses include the double four on a pair of dice and a square bed in a garden.^[12] In poetry it could mean one of the two quatrains of a sonnet.^[13][1]

The modern notebook for school, accounts and notes grew from the bound gathering.^[6][11] Publishing extended the word to an issue of a periodical, to supplementary volumes of a series, and, in the plural, to the titles of irregular journals.^[6][8] Squadernare, to open a book wide, is used by Dante.^[5][12]

Timeline

• 1100s – The word is widespread in the Medieval Latin of Italy.^[3]
• 1211 – Quaderno appears in a Florentine bankers' book.^[4][5]
• 1200s – Brunetto Latini uses the word.^[3][2]
• Before 1321 – Squadernare is used by Dante.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. notebook, exercise book: a set of sheets sewn or glued into a cover, used at school or for notes and accounts: Ho scritto i compiti sul quaderno a righe.^{[6][11][8][1]}
2. An issue of a periodical publication, and in the plural a title of irregular journals.^[6][8]
3. A supplementary volume to a main collection.^[6]
4. (codicology) A quire: four sheets folded in two and set one inside another, making eight leaves.^[11][8][1]
5. (obsolete, poetry) Either of the two quatrains of a sonnet.^[13][1]

Word family

• squadernare
• quadernetto
• quadernone
• quadernino
• quadernaccio
• acquadernare

Related words

• quattro
• quaterna
• caserma
• quinterno
• French cahier

Usage notes

Quaderno di cassa is a cash book.^[6][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 5
3. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3164
4. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 814
13. ^ a b Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org