zampogna

Forms

zampogna f (plural zampogne)^[1] The older and literary form is sampogna.^[2][3][4] The GDLI also records ciampogna and sampognia.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin symphōnia (“a wind instrument”), a popular loan of Ancient Greek συμφωνία (symphōnía, “harmony, concert”).^[6][7][8][2] Sabatini–Coletti and Zingarelli start from a spoken Latin *sumpōnia.^[3][9] Nocentini explains the form by a strengthening of the initial /s/ and a lowering of the pretonic /i/ before the nasal.^[7] Devoto supposed a passage through Romagnol *smpogna, later reshaped in Tuscan.^[10] Wiktionary suggests that zampa (“paw”) may have influenced the form by folk etymology, since bagpipes were made of leather with the hair left on.^[1]

The learned form of the same Latin word is sinfonia.^[6][1] It also gave Occitan semfonia (“tambourine”) and Portuguese sanfonha (“bagpipe”).^[7][11] Wiktionary compares Romanian cimpoi and Sicilian sampugna.^[1] REW also traces fandonia (“tall story”) to it, through a sense “chatter” still found in Lucca.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Dante, before 1321, in the form sampogna: sì com’al pertugio / de la sampogna vento che penètra (“as wind that enters the hole of the bagpipe”).^[6][5] GRADIT dates the word before 1320 and Zingarelli to 1287.^[8][9] The form zampogna appears about 1350 in the Italian translation of Crescenzi, for a wind instrument like the cornamusa.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Medieval writers on music used symphonia for any concord of sounds and, by metonymy, for an instrument that sounded low and high notes together; the old commentators on Dante gloss sampogna with it.^[6] Buti says that it sounds by blowing with the mouth or swelling the leather bag.^[6] Crescenzi's translation advises the swineherd to train his sows to come at the sound of the zampogna.^[13] Luigi Pulci calls it a rustic instrument beside the zufolino, before 1484.^[6]

The zampognaro, the bagpipe player, is recorded from 1598, and Matilde Serao in 1917 mourned the shepherds who came down from the mountains each December to play for the Christmas novena.^[6] In central and southern Italy, where the Ciociari played it, zampognaro came to mean “Ciociaro”.^[12] The word also names a hunter's call imitating the coot, and in prison slang a prisoner's kit.^[8][2]

French borrowed the word in 1703, German in 1732 and English in 1740.^[14] It passed into Greek as τσαμπούνα, and Spanish has zampoña from it.^[1][11]

Timeline

• 1287 – Zingarelli's date for the word.^[9]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses sampogna in the Paradiso.^[6]
• About 1350 – Zampogna appears in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.^[6]
• Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses it for a rustic instrument.^[6]
• 1598 – Florio records zampognaro.^[6]
• 1703 – French zampogna is first recorded.^[14]
• 1732 – German Zampogna is first recorded.^[14]
• 1740 – English zampogna is first recorded.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) A bagpipe of pastoral origin: a leather bag filled with air through a blowpipe or bellows, with one or more pipes fitted into it: A Natale gli zampognari suonano la zampogna davanti al presepe.^[8][2][3][9]
2. (music, rare) A panpipe (siringa) or shepherd's pipe (zufolo).^[8][2][9]
3. (hunting) A pipe-shaped call that imitates the cry of the coot (folaga).^[8][2][4]
4. (slang) The kit issued to a prisoner, wrapped in a bundle.^[8]

Word family

• zampognaro
• zampognare
• zampognatore

Related words

• sinfonia
• fandonia
• cornamusa
• Latin symphonia
• Ancient Greek συμφωνία (symphōnía)

Usage notes

The z is pronounced either /dz/ or /ts/.^[1][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4106
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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