sponda

Forms

sponda f (plural sponde)^[1] An old form sponta is recorded, and old plurals in -i occur beside sponde.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spŏnda, which in Latin meant the frame of a bed or couch, and also the couch itself.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin word was continued only in the western Romance languages.^[7][4] The same word is Old French esponde, Old Occitan esponda “edge of a bed”, Catalan espona “bedstead”, Romansh spuonda “slope” in the Engadine, and Spanish espuenda “bank” in Spanish dialects.^[8][4] A derivative with the suffix -eus gave Sicilian spongia and Sardinian ispungia in Nuoro.^[7]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[3][9][10] Nocentini finds no sure comparisons for it, and Devoto calls it Indo-European in structure but without any connection.^[4][11] De Vaan sets up Proto-Italic *spondā (“frame”) and an Italo-Celtic form shared with Old Irish sond and Welsh ffon (“stick”), probably from the root of Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to spin”).^[5][1] He keeps apart the Germanic words for “bucket”, which have a different consonant.^[5] The DEI instead compared German Span and Spaten.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and GRADIT date the word to the first half of the 13th century, GRADIT about 1250 in the sense of a side or edge.^[4][12] The oldest texts DELI cites are the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, for the parapet of a bridge or a well, and Bono Giamboni, before 1292, for the edge of a bed, the Latin sense.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the edge of a bed the word spread to any raised edge or side: the parapet of a bridge or well, the sides of a cart, the edge of a table.^[3][12][13] Petrarch used it of the side of a bed.^[14] The bank of a river came early: Dante's Inferno has both banks trembling at a crash over the water (per cui tremavano amendue le sponde).^[2] DELI dates the sense of a riverbank from 1550, in Cosimo Bartoli.^[3] In literary language the plural came to mean a coast or a whole land, as in Foscolo's le sacre sponde of Zakynthos.^[13][15]

Between the two world wars la quarta sponda, “the fourth shore”, was an emphatic name for the colony of Libya, after the three sea coasts of the Italian peninsula.^[13] In billiards and bocce the sponde are the sides of the table or the court.^[15][16] The figurative sense of reaching a goal by indirect means came from gioco di sponda, a shot off the cushion.^[15][16] In football fare da sponda is to return a team-mate's pass at once, and in politics to back someone indirectly.^[15][9][16]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – GRADIT's date for the first record, in the sense of a side or edge.^[12]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses sponda for the edge of a bed.^[3]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for the parapet of a bridge or a well.^[3]
• 1550 – Cosimo Bartoli uses it for the bank of a river.^[3]
• 1561 – Spondaruolo, a plane for working against an edge, is recorded in Citolini.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The bank or shore of a river, lake or sea, the strip of land along the water: Abbiamo pranzato sulla sponda del lago.^[12][15][17]
2. (literary) A coast, and by extension a land or country.^[12][15][9]
3. The side or outer edge of something: the edge of a bed or table, the side of a cart or lorry.^[12][15][13]
4. A parapet or raised rim, as of a well or bridge.^[12][15]
5. (billiards) Each of the four raised cushions of the table.^[12][15] (bocce) Each of the three sides of the court.^[12][15]
6. (figurative) Support or protection from someone: trovare una sponda, to find a powerful protector.^[12][17][18]
7. (building) In scaffolding, a board set on edge as the side of a form or the parapet of a walkway.^[16]

Word family

• spondina
• spondicina
• sponderuola
• spondale

Related words

• Latin sponda
• Catalan espona

Usage notes

Common phrases are fare da sponda, in football to return a team-mate's pass, and figuratively to back someone indirectly, and gioco di sponda, a shot played off the cushion, and figuratively an indirect manoeuvre.^[15][16] In physical geography sponda destra and sponda sinistra are the right and left banks as seen facing downstream.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 994
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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3599
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 941
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli