stiva

stiva¹ hold of a ship

Etymology tree of stiva¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin stīpō

Italian stivare

Italian stiva

From the same root · stiva¹

Latin cōnstīpō ← stīpō

Latin stīpātor ← stīpō

Latin stipulus ← stīpō

Pronunciation

• /ˈsti.va/^[1]

Forms

stiva f (plural stive)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the hold of a ship is from Italian stivare (“to stow”), a deverbal noun without a suffix.^[2][3][4][1] The verb continues Latin stīpō (“to pack tight”) with the voicing of ⟨-p-⟩, and came into Italian through Genoese with the sense of loading and stacking goods in a ship.^[5][2] At Genoa the verb is recorded in Latin from 1268.^[6] stipare is the learned doublet of the verb.^[2] Prati derives the noun from the verb rather than from Old Italian stipa, the packing laid between casks in a ship.^[6]

The DEI calls the noun typically Italian, against French cale, Spanish bodega, German Raum and the English word hold, and says it passed into Spanish and Portuguese.^[7] Meyer-Lübke saw the opposite route: he took Spanish estivar and estiva as the source of the Italian words.^[8]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from an adjective meaning “stiff, upright”, from Proto-Indo-European *steip-.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the merchant handbook of Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, before 1347, for the part of a ship where the cargo is stowed.^[2] Pegolotti notes that the fresher and newer the ship, the better it bears its load.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The hold is the lowest space of the ship, below the lowest deck, and each of the large compartments there for cargo.^[11][10] In the 16th century stiva also meant weight laid in the bottom of a ship, and an old phrase trovar la stiva meant to find the way to do something.^[6] With aircraft the word passed to the cargo and baggage hold.^[11][4] The old sense of stowage survives in la nave è in stiva.^[11]

Timeline

• 1229 – Stivare appears in Medieval Latin at Venice.^[2]
• 1264 – “Stivator”, a stevedore, is recorded at Pisa.^[2]
• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino uses Italian stivare.^[2][5]
• Before 1347 – Pegolotti uses stiva for the hold.^[2]
• 1396 – Stivatore is recorded in the Datini archive.^[2]
• 1805 – Stivaggio “stowage” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) The hold of a ship: the lowest part of the hull, below the deck, and each of the compartments there for cargo: Hanno caricato i sacchi di grano nella stiva.^[4][12][11]
2. (aviation) The hold of an aircraft, for baggage and goods.^[4][12][13]
3. (archaic) Stowage, the loading of goods, the same as stivaggio.^[4][12][11]

stiva² plough handle

Etymology tree of stiva²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin stīva

Italian stiva

Pronunciation

• /ˈsti.va/^[1]

Forms

stiva f (plural stive)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the handle of a plough is learned: it is borrowed from Latin stīva, the handle of a plough.^[2][4][14] The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[2][14][15] Wiktionary mentions a possible link with stilus and a root meaning “sharp”.^[1]

The popular forms come from a rustic variant Vulgar Latin *stēva, which DELI calls Osco-Umbrian: stegola in Tuscany, Lombard streva in Milan with metathesis, Old French estoive, and Old Occitan esteva, Catalan esteva, Spanish esteva and Portuguese esteva.^[2][5][8][7] Nocentini compares the rustic Latin forms spēca for spīca and vēlla for vīlla.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI and GRADIT date the word to 1542, in Pietro Lauro, who writes that a ploughman should be tall, because such a man presses harder on the handle (un tale la stiva più preme).^[2][4][10]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed literary, beside Tuscan stegola.^[12][11] Alamanni listed più stive e buri among the farm tools, and Pascoli uses it in his poems of ploughing.^[16][10] Monti has ploughshares and stive turned into swords and lances in time of war.^[16] An old phrase, lasciare la stiva dell'aratro once taken in hand, meant to give up an intention.^[16]

Timeline

• 1542 – Pietro Lauro uses stiva for the plough handle.^[2][4]
• 16th century – Luigi Alamanni uses the word.^[7]
• Before 1602 – Serdonati notes that Tuscan peasants call the stiva stegola or bure.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary, agriculture) The handle or stilt of a plough, by which it is guided, the same as stegola.^{[4][12][13][15]}