Etymologically
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stampa

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Pronunciation

Forms

stampa f (plural stampe)[1] An old form is stanpa, in Ferraiolo's chronicle of the late 15th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from the verb stampare (“to press, print”) without a suffix, as is stampo (“mould”).[2][4][5][1] Devoto points out that the noun is older than printing, so that it first meant an impressed figure.[6]

The verb is borrowed from Frankish *stampōn (“to pound, crush”), related to Old High German stampfōn and modern German stampfen.[2][4][1] Wiktionary takes the Frankish verb back to Proto-Germanic *stampōną.[1] The same Germanic verb gave French estamper, Occitan estampar, Catalan estampar, Spanish estampar and Portuguese estampar.[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Dante, who died in 1321, with the sense “imprint, impression”, and GRADIT dates the word to 1313–1319.[2][5] Before the printing press the word meant any figure pressed into a surface, a mark or impression.[6][8]

Semantic evolution

With the printing press the word came to name the technique itself: stanpa in Ferraiolo's chronicle at the end of the 15th century, then stampa in Leonardo Fioravanti (1583) and Torquato Tasso, who asked a friend to stop the printing of a work.[2][9] Fioravanti praised Venice, where the art of printing flourished thanks to its booksellers.[9] By 1574 Giorgio Vasari used stampa for a print, a picture reproduced from an engraved plate.[2][10] French borrowed this sense as French estampe, and German as Stampa (1728).[8][10]

Dare alla stampa “to publish” is recorded in 1586 and dare alle stampe in 1816.[2] The press in the modern sense, newspapers and periodicals taken together, appears in Tommaseo's dictionary in 1873, and the journalists as a body in Petrocchi's in 1891.[2] Libertà della stampa is found in Tuscan decrees of 1743, stampa gialla “the yellow press” in 1905 and stampa rosa for romantic magazines in 1965.[2] DEI notes that buona and cattiva stampa “good, bad press” translate French bonne and mauvaise presse.[8] The 20th century added photographic and film prints (1940) and printed designs on cloth (1922), and in Umbria stampa is the holy-water stoup.[2][8]

Timeline

  • 1313–1319 – GRADIT's date for the first record.[5]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses stampa for an imprint.[2]
  • Late 15th century – Stanpa names printing in Ferraiolo's chronicle.[2]
  • Before 1574 – Giorgio Vasari uses the word for a print of an engraving.[2][10]
  • 1586 – Dare alla stampa “to publish” is recorded.[2]
  • 1728 – German Stampa “print” is first recorded.[10]
  • 1743 – Libertà della stampa appears in Tuscan decrees.[2]
  • 1873 – Tommaseo's dictionary records the sense “newspapers and periodicals”.[2]
  • 1891 – Petrocchi records the sense “journalists”.[2]
  • 1905 – Stampa gialla is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. printing: the technique of reproducing text or pictures in many identical copies from a matrix, and the work of doing it: Il romanzo è in corso di stampa.[5][11][12]
  2. The result of printing, the quality of the printed page: La stampa di questa edizione è molto chiara.[5][12][13]
  3. Printing out the contents of a file on a printer.[5]
  4. The press: newspapers and periodicals taken together: la stampa locale.[5][11][12]
  5. Journalists as a body: Il ministro non ha voluto parlare con la stampa.[5][12][14]
  6. (usually plural) Printed matter, especially as sent by post.[5][12][15]
  7. A print, a picture reproduced from an engraved plate: una stampa antica di Venezia.[5][2]
  8. (photography, cinema) Printing an image from a negative, and the print obtained.[2][5]
  9. (textiles) A design printed on cloth.[2][12]

Adjective

  1. (invariable, after a noun) For the press, for journalists: conferenza stampa, ufficio stampa, sala stampa.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • stampone
  • stampare
  • stampo
  • stampante
  • French estampe

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include dare alle stampe “to publish”, libertà di stampa “freedom of the press”, errore di stampa “misprint” and fresco di stampa “hot off the press”.[5][12][15] DEI records a separate Tuscan stampa “stuffed decoy duck” used in wildfowling.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 56
  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 l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ a b 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 c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  16. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3617