sentina

Forms

sentina f (plural sentine)^[1] Old forms are Old Italian santina and Old Italian sintina.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sentīna (“bilge-water; dregs of society”), a word of uncertain origin.^[3][4][5][1] Nocentini, who finds no sure comparisons, sets the Italian and Spanish sentina apart from French sentine, which came by a learned route.^[5]

De Vaan connects the Latin noun with Proto-Indo-European *semH- (“to scoop”), the source of Lithuanian sémti (“to scoop”) and Celtic verbs for pouring out, but notes that without other Latin relatives this is only a root etymology.^[6][1] The OLD and Wiktionary compare Ancient Greek ἄντλος (ántlos, “bilge-water”).^[7][1] Devoto finds no reliable Indo-European connections.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in the Medieval Latin of Venice in 1255; in Italian the first record is the 13th-century Anonimo genovese, aigua marza de sentina, “rotten bilge water”.^[3][2] Francesco da Barberino uses it in 1314, advising the sailor to keep looking at the bilge.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, a receptacle of filth and wickedness, was already Latin and is in Jacopone da Todi before 1306.^[3][5] Boccaccio, in a letter, explains the figure: the sentina is the lowest part of a great ship, where every foulness collects.^[9] Ariosto's line o d'ogni vizio fetida sentina, “o stinking sink of every vice”, is still the standard quotation.^[10][11]

In thieves' slang sentina meant prison, and in olive-oil mills it is the pit where the vegetable water collects, also called the inferno.^[12][13][14] German borrowed the word in 1434.^[15]

Timeline

• 1255 – sentina is recorded in the Medieval Latin of Venice.^[3]
• 13th century – the Anonimo genovese uses it of a ship's bilge.^[3][2]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses it figuratively.^[3]
• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino uses it.^[3]
• 1434 – German sentna is recorded.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) The bilge: the lowest part inside a ship's hull, where waste water collects: svuotare la sentina con la pompa.^[4][13][16]
2. (figurative, literary) A sink or den of vice and corruption: quel locale era una sentina di malaffare.^[4][16][17]
3. In olive-oil mills, the pit where the water from the olives collects.^[13][14]

Word family

• sentiniere

Related words

• Latin sentīna
• French sentine

Usage notes

Older Italian had minor homographs: sentina “shrewdness, cunning” in the Tesoro versificato, which GDLI derives from Late Latin sentinare “to avoid a danger by cunning” and DEI from sentire, and sentina, a tax on stored goods, of uncertain origin.^[2][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)