stanza Italian · revision 37762

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1286–1287, Florentine document|origins=la sto}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈstan.t͡sa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''stanza''' ''f'' (plural stanze)^(Wiktionary)

+ The old form [[stanzia]] survives in Umbria.^(DEI|3619)^(Treccani 2011)

+ Old texts also have [[roa-oit|stantia]] and [[roa-oit|stança]].^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-vul|*stantia|t=dwelling, stay]], a noun formed from [[la|stans|alt=stāns]], the present participle of [[m|la|stō|t=to stand, stay]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Devoto explains it as an abstract noun for a set of things that stand together, complete in themselves, whether a room or a unit of verse.^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ DEI finds the word in Italian, Ladin and Catalan.^(DEI|3619) Meyer-Lübke lists Engadine and Friulian forms and [[ca|estança]], and Körting [[pro|estansa|t=position]] and [[fr|étance|t=prop]].^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907) [[es|estancia]] is a separate formation, and [[fr|stance]] “stanza” is a loan from Italian.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|3619)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1286–1290 (dated 1286–1287).^(TLIO) DELI's earliest sense, “staying in a place, dwelling”, is in Dante: ''Ché la tua stanza mio pianger disagia'' (“for your staying hinders my weeping”).^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Boccaccio used the word for a room of a house in 1348–1353, and a document from L'Aquila of about 1425–1430 has ''stantie'' for military quarters.^(DELI 1999) In the metrical sense Medieval Latin ''stantia'' appears in Francesco da Barberino in 1314 and in Dante's ''De vulgari eloquentia''.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO) Passavanti uses Italian ''stanza'' for a song in 1354, and Pietro Bembo gives it its modern sense, a group of lines that forms the unit of a canzone, in 1525.^(DELI 1999) In the 15th and 16th centuries ''Stanze'' served as the title of poems in ottava rima.^(DEI|3619) Etymonline explains the metrical sense by the stop at the end of the group of lines.^(Etymonline)

+

+ The metrical sense passed into French as ''stance'' (1550) and into English as ''stanza'' (1588).^(DIFIT)^(Etymonline) German ''Stanze'' first meant a room (1572) and a passenger's place on a ship, and only later a stanza.^(DIFIT) English ''stance'' comes from the same Vulgar Latin word, probably through French.^(Etymonline) Modern Italian has ''stanza di compensazione'', a clearing house of banks, and ''la stanza dei bottoni'', the room where power is exercised.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1286–1287 – A Florentine document has the first record.^(TLIO)

+ * 1314 – Francesco da Barberino uses Medieval Latin ''stantia'' for a strophe.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses ''stanza'' for staying in a place.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for a room.^(DELI 1999)^(DIFIT)

+ * 1354 – Iacopo Passavanti uses it for a song.^(DELI 1999)

+ * About 1425–1430 – A document from L'Aquila uses ''stantie'' for military quarters.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1525 – Pietro Bembo uses it for the unit of a canzone.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1550 – French ''stance'' is first recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1572 – German ''Stantzen'' “rooms” is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1588 – English ''stanza'' is first recorded.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|room]] of a building, for living or working in: ''La casa ha quattro stanze e un piccolo giardino.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A hall of special artistic or historical value, often capitalised: ''le Stanze Vaticane''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(metrics)'' A [[m|en|stanza]] of a canzone or ballata, and the ottava of the chivalric poem.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(literary)'' A stay or sojourn in a place, a dwelling.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(military)'' A permanent station, in ''di stanza'': ''Il reggimento è di stanza a Bolzano.''^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(banking)'' ''stanza di compensazione'': a [[m|en|clearing house]].^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(hunting)'' A sheltered place in the woods where a deer lies up.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[stanzino]]

+ * [[stanzetta]]

+ * [[stanziale]]

+ * [[stanziare]]

+ * [[stanziamento]]

+ * [[retrostanza]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[stare]]

+ * [[fr|stance]]

+ * [[en|stanza]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ An obsolete literary ''stanza'' meaning “request”, often in ''a stanza di'' “at the request of”, is ''istanza'' with the first syllable dropped.^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI|20, 79)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}