cella Italian · revision 38790

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1268, Florentine household records|origins=la cella}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈt͡ʃɛl.la/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cella''' ''f'' (plural celle)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Florentine forms include [[roa-oit|ciella]] and [[roa-oit|ciela]], and Venetian had [[roa-oit|çela]].^(LEI)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|cella|t=small room; storeroom]], a learned word according to DELI, Nocentini and Battisti–Alessio.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|845) The LEI, however, lists the Old Italian and dialect forms with the inherited words: Old Florentine [[m|roa-oit|ciella|t=cellar]] (1268), Venetian [[m|roa-oit|çela]] (1315) and [[scn|cedda]].^(LEI|13, 764) The Latin word lives on in every Romance language except Romanian: [[fro|celle]] (the source of [[en|cell]]), [[es|cilla]] and [[es|celda]], [[pt|cela]], [[ca|cella]] and [[sc|kella|t=servants' room]], recorded in Old Sardinian.^(LEI|13, 764)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The Romans connected the word with [[la|cēlō|t=to hide]], and DELI, Nocentini and Battaglia accept the link.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GDLI|2, 952) De Vaan sees two possible formations from the root [[ine-pro|*ḱel-|t=to hide]]: a form [[m|la|*cēla]] with the vowel shortened before a doubled consonant, or a diminutive.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini compares [[sga|cuile|t=cellar]] and [[grc|καλιά|tr=kaliá|t=hut]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(OLD 2012) The Latin derivative [[m|la|cellārium|t=storeroom]] passed into Germanic as [[de|Keller]] and [[en|cellar]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The LEI's first record is a Florentine household account of 1268, with ''ciella'' for a storeroom or cellar.^(LEI|13, 764) The TLIO's first text, Brunetto Latini's ''Tesoretto'' (1274), uses ''cella'' for one of the three chambers into which the brain was then divided.^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the word was above all a cellar or larder: the ''Novellino'' (late 13th century) has a woman who pretends to go down ''nella cella''.^(DELI 1999)^(Treccani 2011) It also named any small enclosed space, the cell of a honeycomb (13th–14th century), and the inner room of an ancient temple, where the image of the god stood (early 14th century).^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO) The monk's or nun's cell is recorded before 1342, in Domenico Cavalca.^(DELI 1999) Petrarch wishes himself ''sol chiuso in fosca cella'', “shut alone in a dark cell”.^(GDLI) The cellar sense is now archaic, though it lived on in the Tuscan countryside in Tommaseo's time.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ The prison cell is dated 1838, from the Milanese press.^(DELI 1999) Technology then made ''cella'' a container or device: ''cella frigorifera'', ''cella fotovoltaica'', ''cella di memoria'', and the area served by one mobile phone mast.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) The diminutive ''cellula'' became the term of biology after Robert Hooke's ''Micrographia'' (1665), and in 1925 the cell of a revolutionary party, on the model of Russian usage.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – ''Celleraio'', the monk in charge of the stores, is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1268 – Old Florentine ''ciella'' “cellar”.^(LEI|13, 764)

+ * 1274 – Brunetto Latini uses ''cella'' for a chamber of the brain.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for a monk's cell.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1406 – Francesco da Buti uses ''cellula''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1838 – ''Cella'' “prison cell” appears in the Milanese press.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1875 – ''Cellulare'' is recorded for the prison van.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1925 – ''Cellule comuniste'', the party cells, appear.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|cell]], the small bare room of a monk or a nun in a convent.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A prison cell; by extension, prison: ''Ha passato la notte in cella.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(literary)'' A quiet, secluded room for study or meditation.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Each of the hexagonal cells of a [[m|en|honeycomb]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(archaeology)'' The inner room of an ancient temple, which housed the statue of the god.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(technology)'' A compartment or device with a particular function: ''cella frigorifera'', a cold store, ''cella campanaria'', the belfry, ''cella fotovoltaica'', a solar cell.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(computing)'' A memory cell; a cell of a spreadsheet.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(telecommunications)'' The area served by one transmitter of a mobile phone network.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A [[m|en|cellar]], a larder.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cellula]]

+ * [[cellulare]]

+ * [[celleraio]]

+ * [[celletta]]

+ * [[semicella]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[celare]]

+ * [[cantina]]

+ * [[la|cella]]

+ * [[en|cell]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A minor homograph, ''cella'', was a silver coin struck at L'Aquila from 1420 and current until 1480; it was named after the eagle on its reverse, through Late Latin ''aucella'' “little bird”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI|845) In Abruzzo, Molise and Sicily a word of the same origin is a slang name for the genitals.^(Cortelazzo & Marcato 1998)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}