stivare

Forms

stivare (first-person singular present stìvo, first-person singular past historic stivài, past participle stivàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin stīpō (“to press together, pack”), with the northern voicing of /p/ to /v/: the word reached Italian through the seafaring language of Genoa and Venice, with the special sense of loading a ship.^[2][3][4][5] It is recorded in Medieval Latin at Venice in 1229 and at Genoa in 1268.^[2][6] The learned doublet is stipare.^[2][1][7]

Battisti and Alessio think a loan from Spanish estivar or Portuguese estivar less likely.^[4] Meyer-Lübke, on the contrary, derived the Italian verb and French estiver from the Spanish and Portuguese word, beside Catalan estibar.^[8] The noun stiva “hold” is formed from the verb without a suffix.^[2]

The Latin verb is related to stīpes (“tree trunk, stake”).^[9] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Indo-European *steip- (“stiff, erect”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is in Francesco da Barberino in 1314, in the general sense “to pack, cram”: a ship's gear includes capstans “to stow things inside” (a stivar cose dentro).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the commentator Buti glossed the word as “to fill as full as it will hold”, and Sacchetti has people “so packed” (sì stivati) between the bed and the wall that they could not get out.^[6][10] The nautical sense, to stow goods properly in the hold, is recorded in 1566 in the Consolato del mare, which forbids a master or boatswain to stow bales without the merchants' consent.^[2][6] Tommaseo also records a fishermen's sense, “to lay marinated fish in layers in jars”.^[11] In foundry work the verb means to ram the sand into the moulds.^[12][10]

The derivative stivatore “stevedore” goes back to Medieval Latin stivator at Pisa in 1264 and is Italian in 1396, and stivaggio appears in 1805.^[2] French has estiver from 1642.^[13] Turkish istif may come from the Italian verb.^[1]

Timeline

• 1229 – Medieval Latin stivare is recorded at Venice.^[2]
• 1264 – Medieval Latin stivator is recorded at Pisa.^[2]
• 1268 – The verb is recorded at Genoa.^[4]
• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino uses stivare.^[2][12]
• Before 1347 – The noun stiva is recorded in Francesco Balducci Pegolotti.^[2]
• 1566 – The Consolato del mare uses the verb for stowing a ship's cargo.^[2]
• 1642 – French estiver is recorded.^[13]
• 1805 – Stivaggio is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (nautical, aeronautics) To stow cargo in the hold of a ship or aircraft; to load a ship or aircraft in this way.^[12][14][10]
2. (metallurgy) In a foundry, to ram sand into the moulds.^[12][10]
3. (uncommon) To cram into a small space; to fill a container to the brim, pressing its contents down.^[12][14][15]

Word family

• stiva
• stivatore
• stivaggio
• stivamento
• stivatura

Related words

• stipare
• Latin stīpō
• French estiver
• Spanish estivar

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3638
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 427
6. ^ 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, p. 20, 207
7. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli