senape

Forms

senape f (plural senapi)^[1] The literary variant is senapa, the obsolete one senepa.^[2][3] Old Italian texts also have senavro, Old Italian senavra, Old Italian sinapo and Old Italian senepe.^[4] A masculine senapo was used from the 15th century.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sinapi (“mustard”), from Ancient Greek σίναπι (sínapi).^[6][7][8][1] The Latin word also had the forms sināpe, senāpe and sināpis.^[9]

The Italian word keeps the Greek stress on the first syllable, and DELI, following Alessio, thinks Latin may have kept it as well.^[6] Nocentini sees two lines of descent.^[7] One has the Greek stress, as in Italian and Gallo-Romance: French sanve and Occitan senebe.^[7] The other has the Latin stress on the second syllable, as in Spanish jenabe and in the dialects: Sicilian sinapu, Neapolitan senape and Lombard senavra.^[7][10] The word also passed into Germanic: Old High German senef, modern German Senf.^[7][11]

The Greek word is of eastern origin: DELI, Zingarelli and Gabrielli call it Egyptian.^[6][2][12] Nocentini puts it in the same family as Ancient Greek νᾶπυ (nâpu, “mustard”) and thinks it is probably a word of a pre-Greek substrate.^[7] DEI compares the same Greek word, the source of Latin nāpus (“turnip”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva, of the late 13th century.^[4] It names the plant whose seeds, whole or ground, were used in cooking and medicine.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the granello di senape, the mustard seed, was a figure for something small that holds great power, above all faith.^[4] The masculine senapo was used for the plant and its seeds, and in the 15th century Masuccio asks for un poco de salsa del sinapo, che vui la nominate mostarda, “a little mustard sauce, which you call mostarda”.^[5] Old phrases such as venire il senapo in testa and far venire la senape al naso meant to lose one's temper.^[5][2]

The medical use gave senapismo, a mustard plaster, recorded in 1567–1573 in the Ricettario fiorentino.^[6] The sense “mustard sauce” is described by Carena in 1846, together with senapiera, the mustard pot.^[6] The colour, between brown and dull yellow, is recorded as an adjective in 1960.^[6]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Bonvesin de la Riva uses the word in Milan.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses senape.^[6]
• 1567–1573 – Senapismo appears in the Ricettario fiorentino.^[6]
• 1846 – Carena describes the sauce and the senapiera.^[6]
• 1960 – The colour adjective is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. mustard: a condiment, as a creamy paste or a powder, made from the ground seeds of white mustard: Ho messo un po' di senape sul panino.^[8][13][3]
2. (medicine, cooking) The flour or essence of mustard plants, used in medicine as a counterirritant and in cooking as a hot seasoning.^[8][13][3]
3. (botany) Any of several plants of the cabbage family grown for their seeds, especially senape bianca (Sinapis alba) and senape nera (Brassica nigra).^[8][13][14]
4. (masculine, invariable) Mustard colour, between yellow and brown.^[8][14]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after the noun) Mustard-coloured: un cappotto senape.^[8][15][14]

Word family

• senapismo
• senapiera
• senapato

Related words

• navone
• Latin sinapi
• German Senf

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 617
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3452
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse