scena Italian · revision 38041

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1313, Florentine Ars amatoria translation|origins=grc σκηνή}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈʃɛ.na/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scena''' ''f'' (plural scene)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|scaena|t=stage, scene]] (also [[m|la|scēna]]), [[der|grc|σκηνή|tr=skēnḗ|t=tent; stage]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The origin of the Greek word is uncertain;^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini thinks it probably shares a root with [[m|grc|σκιά|tr=skiá|t=shadow]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The Latin spelling with ⟨ae⟩ does not match Greek ⟨η⟩.^(Nocentini 2010)^(OLD 2012) Nocentini and DEI explain it by an Etruscan intermediary, since Etruscan wrote ⟨ai⟩ for Greek long /eː/ and /aː/ and the Romans took much of their theatre from Etruria, and the OLD too puts the vowel down to Etruscan.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|3382)^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary instead sees a hypercorrect ⟨ae⟩, and Devoto speaks of dialect intermediaries.^(Wiktionary)^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ The same learned word is [[fr|scène]] and [[es|escena]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Körting 1907) Of the derivatives, [[scenario]] became an international word, and its recent sense “possible course of events” came back from English.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) [[scenografia|alt=Scenografia]] is Greek [[m|grc|σκηνογραφία|tr=skēnographía|t=scene-painting]], and [[sceneggiata]] is a Neapolitan word.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is the Florentine translation of Ovid's ''Ars amatoria'', before 1313, where the word means the part of the theatre in which the play is performed.^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003) The sense “part of a play in which the same actors are on stage” is first found in Boccaccio, before 1375.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lorenzo Ghiberti used the word in 1448 for the stage building of the ancient Greek theatre, and Grazzini in 1560 for the place where the action is set: in his prologue “La scena è Firenze” (the scene is Florence).^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Tasso, before 1595, applied it to a natural spectacle, Foscolo, before 1827, to an event or landscape shown in a work of art, and Tommaseo–Bellini in 1872 to human life as a whole.^(DELI 1999) DEI also records a 16th-century sense “hut of branches for shade”, close to the Greek “tent”.^(DEI|3382)

+

+ The plural ''scene'' “a show of feelings, a fuss” is recorded before 1694 in Segneri, and the purist Ugolini still objected to ''fare scene'' in 1855; [[scenata]] in this sense is in Manzoni's ''Promessi sposi'' (1840–1842).^(DELI 1999) In music a ''scena'' is the recitative before an aria (1818), and English took the word in that sense in 1819 and jokingly for a scene of anger in 1847;^(DIFIT) German had it as a musical term in 1571.^(DIFIT) ''Mettere in scena'' “to stage” copies French ''mettre en scène''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1313 – First record, in the Florentine translation of Ovid's ''Ars amatoria''.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses ''scena'' for a part of a play.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1448 – Lorenzo Ghiberti uses it for the stage building of the Greek theatre.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1560 – Grazzini uses it for the place where the action is set.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1571 – German ''Scena'' as a musical term.^(DIFIT)

+ * Before 1595 – Tasso uses it for a natural spectacle.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1694 – Plural ''scene'' “show of feelings” in Paolo Segneri.^(DELI 1999)^(DIFIT)

+ * 1819 – English ''scena'' in music.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1840–1842 – ''Scenata'' in Manzoni's ''Promessi sposi''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(theatre)'' The [[m|en|stage]], the part of a theatre where the actors perform: ''Quando si alzò il sipario, la scena era buia.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # The [[m|en|scenery]] or set that represents the place of the action, on stage or in a studio.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # The place where the action of a play is set; by extension, the place where an event happens: ''la scena del delitto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' The theatre as an art or career: ''calcare le scene'', to act, ''ritirarsi dalle scene'', to retire from the stage.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A [[m|en|scene]], each part of an act of a play; a sequence of a film: ''La scena finale del film è girata in riva al mare.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A sight or episode that one witnesses as if it were a play: ''Davanti alla stazione assistemmo a una scena commovente.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' The field in which events take place: ''la scena politica''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(colloquial, chiefly plural)'' An exaggerated show of feelings, a fuss: ''Non fare scene davanti agli ospiti!''^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(music)'' A [[m|en|recitative]] leading into an aria.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scenario]]

+ * [[scenata]]

+ * [[scenico]]

+ * [[sceneggiare]]

+ * [[sceneggiatura]]

+ * [[sceneggiatore]]

+ * [[sceneggiata]]

+ * [[scenografia]]

+ * [[scenografo]]

+ * [[inscenare]]

+ * [[proscenio]]

+ * [[retroscena]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|scaena]]

+ * [[fr|scène]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Common phrases are ''andare in scena'' (of a play, to be performed), ''mettere in scena'' (to stage; figuratively, to fake), ''colpo di scena'' (a sudden twist) and ''fare scena muta'' (to stay silent, as at an examination).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) Two minor words are spelled the same: an Old Italian ''scena'' “vessel, jar” of the central dialects, of uncertain origin, found in the 13th-century poet Castra, and an obsolete ''gran scena'', a figure of the quadrille, a misreading of French ''grande chaîne''.^(TLIO)^(GDLI|17, 926)^(GDLI|17, 931)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}