scatola Italian · revision 38328

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1339, Medieval Latin at Venice; 1348–1353, Boccaccio|origins=la-med castula}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈska.to.la/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scatola''' ''f'' (plural scatole)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|iscatola]] and [[roa-oit|scatolla]].^(TLIO) In Rome the word is pronounced with a double /t/, ''scàttola''.^(Prati 1951|885)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[der|la-med|castula|t=chest, basket]] with its first consonants reversed (metathesis of ⟨cast-⟩ into ⟨scat-⟩).^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto 1968) DELI gives this explanation with a “perhaps”, and Treccani calls it probable.^(DELI 1999)^(Treccani 2011) The Medieval Latin word is a diminutive of a Germanic word [[m|gem-pro|*kasto|t=chest, casket]], the source of [[de|Kasten|t=box, chest]] and of Italian [[castone|t=bezel of a ring]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(REW 1935) The sources differ on which Germanic language lent it: DELI and Gabrielli say Frankish, DEI Lombardic, Nocentini Old High German or Frankish.^(DELI 1999)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(DEI|3379)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ A different explanation, from a Germanic word [[m|gem-pro|*skata-|t=treasure]], the word of [[got|𐍃𐌺𐌰𐍄𐍄𐍃|tr=skatts|t=money]], is given by Devoto–Oli, and Körting thought it the only way out if, as Kluge held, German [[m|de|Schachtel]] came from the Italian word and not the reverse.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Körting 1907) Diez had derived the Italian word from that German one.^(Körting 1907)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Latin form ''scatula'' is recorded at Venice in 1339, and Boccaccio has the Italian word in the ''Decameron'' (1348–1353).^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The TLIO's earliest record is Francesco Pegolotti's ''Pratica della mercatura'', of the first half of the 14th century, with the sense “container with a lid”.^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Boccaccio's friars keep their cells full of boxes of sweets, and his Calandrino's tricksters come “with a box of galls and the flask of wine”.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) By the 17th century the diminutive ''scatoletta'' (Redi) and the augmentative ''scatolone'' (1578) were in use.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|3379)

+

+ The word was soon applied to many box-shaped devices: ''scatola armonica'' or ''musicale'', a music box, ''scatola cranica'', the bony case of the skull, ''scatola del cambio'', a gearbox, and ''scatola nera'', the flight recorder of an aircraft.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary) Food ''in scatola'' is canned, which gave ''scatolame'' (1931 or 1942) for canned goods.^(Treccani 2011)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) ''Lettere di scatola'' “very large letters” goes back, Treccani says, to the big labels that apothecaries wrote on their boxes.^(Treccani 2011) In popular speech the plural is a euphemism for the testicles, the source of phrases such as ''rompere le scatole'' “to annoy”.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ German took the word twice: as ''Schachtel'' “box” (1472–1473) and as ''Schatulle'' “casket” (1696), and Polish and Serbo-Croatian borrowed it too.^(DIFIT)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1339 – Medieval Latin ''scatula'' is recorded at Venice.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses ''scatola'' in the ''Decameron''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1472–1473 – German ''Schachtel'' is first recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1578 – ''Scatolone'' “large box” is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 17th century – ''Scatoletta'' appears in Francesco Redi.^(DEI|3379)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1696 – German ''Schatulle'' “casket” is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1910 – ''Inscatolare'' “to can, to box” is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1952 – ''Scatolificio'' “box factory” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|box]]: a container, usually with a lid, made of cardboard, wood, metal or plastic, for keeping or carrying things: ''Ho messo le vecchie lettere in una scatola di latta.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The contents of a box: ''I bambini hanno finito una scatola di biscotti in un pomeriggio.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # [[m|en|tin|alt=Tin]] or [[m|en|can]] of preserved food, as in ''tonno in scatola'' “canned tuna”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An object or device shaped like a box or enclosing something, as in ''scatola cranica'' “cranium” or ''scatola nera'' “flight recorder”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(vulgar, in the plural)'' The testicles, in phrases such as ''rompere le scatole'' “to annoy” and ''averne piene le scatole'' “to be fed up”.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scatoletta]]

+ * [[scatolone]]

+ * [[scatolame]]

+ * [[scatolificio]]

+ * [[scatolaio]]

+ * [[scatolare]]

+ * [[inscatolare]]

+ * [[rompiscatole]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[castone]]

+ * [[de|Schachtel]]

+ * [[de|Kasten]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Comprare a scatola chiusa'', literally “to buy in a closed box”, means to buy or accept something without checking it first.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) ''Scatole cinesi'', Chinese boxes that fit inside one another, is also used for a chain of companies each controlling the next.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}