capanna

Forms

capanna f (genitive capannae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3][4] The TLL notes, after Otto Keller, that it might be an altered form of can(n)aba, canapa.^[2]

Isidore of Seville says the country people call it so because it holds only one person, as if from capiō (“to take, hold”).^[5][2] John of Genoa, quoted by Du Cange, derived it from Ancient Greek καπάνη (kapánē).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Isidore of Seville is its first author: the guards of vineyards make themselves a little hut for shelter, which country people call a capanna.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that Isidore and the Romance languages both support the spelling with ⟨p⟩;^[2] Italian capanna, Provençal cabana and Spanish cabaña continue it.^[2] Georges, Niermeyer and Wiktionary list it under cabanna.^[9][10][1]

Medieval Latin used it for a hut, often of straw;^[11][12] a Catalan charter of 983 names a cabanna as a boundary mark.^[4] In English sources it was also a byre or sheepfold, with the herd housed in it, a cabin on a ship and a closet.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville records it as a country word for a vineyard guard's hut.^[2][8]
• 983 – A Catalan charter names a cabanna.^[4]
• 1253 – The Gascon rolls use cabana of a herd of cows.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A hut, cabin; a hut of straw.^[2][7][11]
2. (Medieval Latin) A byre or sheepfold; the herd kept in it.^[12]
3. (Medieval Latin) A cabin on a ship; a closet.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press