canzone Italian · revision 38090

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early 13th century, Patecchio (Cremonese)|origins=ine-pro *keh₂n-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kanˈt͡so.ne/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''canzone''' ''f'' (plural canzoni)^(Wiktionary)

+ The old variant [[canzona]] arose by analogy with feminines in ''-a''.^(LEI|10, 1521)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Old forms include [[roa-oit|cançon]], [[roa-oit|canson]] and the Sicilian [[m|roa-oit|canzuni]].^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|cantiō|t=singing, song]] (accusative “cantiōnem”), a noun of action from [[m|la|canō|t=to sing]] and [[m|la|-tiō]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Latin verb goes back to [[ine-pro|*keh₂n-|t=to sing]].^(Wiktionary) In Latin, from Plautus on, the noun meant above all the modulation of the human voice, and secondarily the sound of instruments;^(LEI|10, 1521) Italian developed the technical musical and literary sense from the start, which shows how closely lyric poetry was bound to music.^(LEI|10, 1521)

+

+ The word survives throughout Romance except Romanian: [[fr|chanson]], [[oc|cansó]], [[ca|cançó]], [[es|canción]], [[pt|canção]], [[fur|chançon]] and [[rm|chanzun]].^(LEI|10, 1521)^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Nocentini considers the Spanish word a learned transmission.^(Nocentini 2010) The regular form “canzone” continues the accusative, and “canzona” is formed like other feminines in “-a” that continue nouns of the third declension.^(LEI|10, 1521)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is the ''Frotula'' of Gerardo Patecchio, a Cremonese poem of the first half of the 13th century, in the sense “poem”.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The sense “lyric meant to be sung with music” follows at the end of the century in Giacomino da Verona.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ For the poets of the 13th and 14th centuries the ''canzone'' was the highest lyric form, a series of stanzas closed by a shorter ''congedo'';^(LEI|10, 1521)^(TLIO) Dante's ''De vulgari eloquentia'' calls ''cantiones'' the noblest of poems.^(LEI|10, 1521)^(TLIO) Dante also calls each of the three parts of the ''Commedia'' a ''canzone''.^(TLIO) Petrarch's ''canzoni'' became the model for later poets, and Leopardi freed the stanzas from a fixed pattern (''canzone libera'').^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ The figurative sense “a tiresome thing said over and over again” is in Giovan Maria Cecchi before 1587.^(DELI 1999) From ''mettere in canzone'' “to make fun of” (Boccaccio) came the verb [[canzonare]] “to tease”, recorded in Lorenzo de' Medici before 1492.^(Prati 1951)^(DELI 1999) Today the main sense is a song of popular or light music, as in the ''Festival della canzone italiana''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ English borrowed ''canzone'' and ''canzon'' in 1590 for the lyric form, and later ''canzona'' for its musical setting.^(DIFIT)^(Etymonline) French has ''canzone'' as a musical term from the 15th century, and German ''Kanzone'' from 1732.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 13th century – Patecchio's ''Frotula'' uses ''canzone'' for a poem.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999)

+ * Late 13th century – Giacomino da Verona uses it for a song set to music.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1292–1293 – Dante's ''Vita nuova'' uses it for the stanza poem.^(LEI|10, 1521)

+ * 1470 – ''Canzoniere'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici uses ''canzonare''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1587 – Cecchi uses ''canzone'' for something repeated tiresomely.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1590 – English ''canzone'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1732 – German ''Canzone'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|song]], a short piece for voice with an easy melody: ''Alla radio passano sempre la stessa canzone.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A tiresome repetition, the same old story: ''Ogni sera la stessa canzone: non ha fame.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(literature)'' The canzone, a lyric poem of several stanzas of hendecasyllables and seven-syllable lines with a shorter [[congedo]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(music)'' A polyphonic vocal or instrumental composition of the 14th–16th centuries.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[canzonare]]

+ * [[canzonatore]]

+ * [[canzonatorio]]

+ * [[canzonatura]]

+ * [[canzonetta]]

+ * [[canzonettista]]

+ * [[canzoniere]]

+ * [[scanzonato]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[canto]]

+ * [[cantare]]

+ * [[la|cantiō]]

+ * [[fr|chanson]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Canzone di gesta'' translates the French ''chanson de geste'', the medieval epic.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}