caffè Italian · revision 38299

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1585, Gianfrancesco Morosini (as cavèe)|origins=ar قَهْوَة}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kafˈfɛ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''caffè''' ''m'' (invariable, diminutive-derogatory caffeùccio (“café”))^(Wiktionary)

+ Early forms include ''cavèe'' (1585), ''cahve'' (1614) and ''cafè'' (1615); ''caffè'' is recorded from 1637.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) In Gregorio Leti the coffee house is a ''cafeo''.^(Prati 1951|201)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|ota|قهوه|tr=kahve]], from [[ar|قَهْوَة|tr=qahwa]], which first meant “wine” or a stimulating drink and was used in Yemen for coffee from the end of the 14th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|660)^(Wiktionary) The word spread in Italy from Venice, the city that traded with the Ottoman Empire, where it is first recorded.^(DEI|660)^(DELI 1999) It spread throughout the world, adapted to each language, as in [[fr|café]] and [[es|café]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The sense “coffee house” is a calque of the French word, which had this meaning by 1694.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Eighteenth-century Italian also had a longer phrase, “coffee shop”, which purists of the 19th century preferred, but the short form won.^(DELI 1999) The Italian Wiktionary repeats the story that the drink takes its name from the kingdom of Kaffa in Ethiopia, which the other sources do not mention.^(Wikizionario)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first Italian description of coffee is in a report of 1585 to the Venetian Senate by the ambassador Gianfrancesco Morosini, who saw the Turks drink in public “a black water, as hot as they can bear, drawn from a seed they call cavèe” (''un'acqua negra bollente quanto possono sofferire, che si cava d'una semente che chiaman cavèe'').^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 17th century the word named the plant, its seed and the drink: Francesco Redi wrote of the drink in 1666 and asked a correspondent in Livorno which plant produced the beans.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|2, 499) The first record of the sense “coffee house” is from 1696.^(DELI 1999) In Venice a ''bottega da acque'' of 1713 later became the Caffè di Spadaria.^(Prati 1951|201) Many derivatives were modelled on French: ''caffeina'' and ''caffettiere'' follow ''caféine'' and ''cafetier'', and ''caffè concerto'' follows ''café-concert''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ Modern Italian has a long series of names for kinds of coffee, such as ''caffè espresso'', ''caffè macchiato'', ''caffè corretto'' and ''caffè ristretto'', and uses the word as an adjective for a dark brown colour.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) English uses ''caffè'' for Italian-style coffee, and Wiktionary lists the Italian word as the source of words for coffee in several languages, among them French, Spanish and Dutch.^(Wiktionary) DIFIT marks the link with French as doubtful: the TLF derives French ''café'' (1610) from Turkish or Venetian.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1585 – Gianfrancesco Morosini describes the drink and its seed, ''cavèe''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1614 – The form ''cahve'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1615 – ''Cafè'' is recorded in Venice.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|660)

+ * 1637 – The form ''caffè'' is first recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1666 – Francesco Redi writes of the drink.^(DELI 1999)^(DIFIT)

+ * 1696 – First record of the sense “coffee house”.^(DELI 1999)^(DIFIT)

+ * 1711 – ''Caffettiera'' “coffee pot” appears in Lorenzo Magalotti.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1754 – ''Caffetteria'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1832 – ''Caffellatte'' is first recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1865 – ''Caffeina'' appears in the Tommaseo–Bellini dictionary.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(botany)'' The [[m|en|coffee]] plant (''Coffea arabica''), an evergreen shrub of the madder family, native to Africa, with white flowers and red berries.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # The seeds of this plant, raw, roasted or ground: ''Compro mezzo chilo di caffè macinato.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The dark, aromatic drink made from the roasted, ground seeds, and a cup of it: ''Ci vediamo dopo per un caffè?''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A similar drink made from substitutes, as in ''caffè d'orzo'' (barley coffee).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A [[m|en|café]], a public place serving coffee and other drinks.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A dark golden brown colour.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of the colour of roasted coffee, after its noun: ''una borsa caffè''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[caffeina]]

+ * [[caffellatte]]

+ * [[caffetteria]]

+ * [[caffettiera]]

+ * [[caffettiere]]

+ * [[caffeario]]

+ * [[caffeicolo]]

+ * [[caffeismo]]

+ * [[decaffeinare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ammazzacaffè]]

+ * [[fr|café]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The word is invariable: ''un caffè'', ''tre caffè''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) ''Discorsi da caffè'' are idle, superficial talk.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}