campagna Italian · revision 38946

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early 13th century, Uguccione da Lodi|origins=la campus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kamˈpaɲ.ɲa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''campagna''' ''f'' (plural campagne)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|canpagna]], [[m|roa-oit|campangna]] and [[m|roa-oit|chanpagna]].^(TLIO) Leonardo and the Paduan Savonarola wrote ''campagnia''.^(LEI|10, 370)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-lat|campānia|t=open country, plain]], a noun made from the plural of the adjective [[m|la|campāneus|t=of the fields, of the plain]], which comes from [[la|campus|t=level ground, field]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Late Latin noun is recorded from the 6th century, in the Antonine Itinerary and in Gregory of Tours, and the adjective was formed after [[m|la|montāneus|t=of the mountains]].^(DEI|705)^(Wiktionary)^(LEI|10, 370) The same word is [[fro|champagne]], [[oc|campanha]], [[ca|campanya]], [[es|campaña]] and [[pt|campanha]];^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|10, 370)^(REW 1935) it is missing in Sardinian, Dalmatian and Romanian.^(DEI|705) In France the old word became the name of a region, and the common noun [[fr|campagne]] took over;^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|10, 370)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907) Meyer-Lübke and the LEI think that it came from Italian, while others derive it from Norman-Picard or from Occitan.^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI|10, 370)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ The Latin noun is traditionally traced to a root [[ine-pro|*kh₂emp-|t=to bend]], as in [[grc|κάμπτω|tr=kámptō|t=to bend]] and [[lt|kampas|t=corner]].^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan finds the Latin ⟨a⟩ hard to explain and suggests that the word, like the Greek ones, came from a European substrate language of farming.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The military sense grew from the open country itself, the ground where battles were fought: in Old Italian, going out “alla campagna” meant going out to a pitched battle.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) DEI gives this sense a numbered head of its own and thinks the French military sense (from 1587) was borrowed from Italian.^(DEI|705) For the sense “organised effort”, first recorded for an electoral campaign in 1905, DELI points to the farming season, as in the grain and silkworm campaigns, while Panzini saw a figurative use of the military campaign.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, at the beginning of the 13th century, and the LEI has Lombard ''canpagna'' from the first half of that century.^(TLIO)^(LEI|10, 370) The first sense is open land, level or hilly, with low vegetation, set against forest, mountain, sea or town.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999) Folgore da San Gimignano gives his friends for April “the gentle countryside all in flower with fresh grass” (“la gentil campagna / tutta fiorita di bell'erba fresca”).^(GDLI)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Already in Old Italian the word could mean a farm estate, country life, and the ground where an army camps or is drawn up for battle.^(TLIO) In the ''Inferno'' the runners race for the green cloth at Verona “per la campagna”, across the open country.^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) From the late 15th century, first in Vespasiano da Bisticci (before 1498), it named a whole cycle of military operations, as in ''la campagna di Russia''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) In jest one who has had many love affairs “has made his campaigns”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ The sense “season of a farming activity” (''la campagna delle olive'') is recorded from 1890, and ''campagna elettorale'' from 1905; from there came ''campagna pubblicitaria'', ''campagna abbonamenti'' and the like.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) In heraldry ''campagna'' is the lower third of the shield.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011) The derivative ''campagnolo'' “of the country; countryman” is recorded from 1663.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ English used ''campagna'' in the 17th and 18th centuries for the countryside of Italy and now only for the Roman Campagna;^(DIFIT) ''campaign'' came through French.^(DIFIT) German had ''Campagna'' in 1625–1630, and Turkish borrowed the word as ''kampanya''.^(DIFIT)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the word in Cremonese.^(TLIO)

+ * 1304–1307 – Dante uses ''campagna'' in the ''Convivio''.^(LEI|10, 370)

+ * c. 1309 – Folgore da San Gimignano describes the April countryside.^(LEI|10, 370)^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1498 – Vespasiano da Bisticci uses it for a military campaign.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1536 – French ''campagne'' “open country” is first recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1587 – French ''campagne'' is used of ground where armies fight.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1641 – English ''campagna'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1663 – ''Campagnolo'' “countryman” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1890 – The sense “farming season” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1905 – ''Campagna elettorale'' appears in Panzini's dictionary.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|countryside]]: wide open land, level or hilly, outside the towns, with fields, woods and scattered houses: ''D'estate andiamo a stare in campagna.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The rural world, as against the city: ''Ha sempre preferito la vita di campagna.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # Farmland, cultivated land; its crops: ''Quest'anno la campagna rende poco.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(military)'' A [[m|en|campaign]], a series of military operations in one theatre of war; by extension, a war: ''la campagna d'Africa''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(military, dated)'' Open ground suited to the movement of troops; the field of battle.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative, jocular)'' A love affair or adventure, in ''fare le proprie campagne''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A coordinated set of actions with a goal, a campaign: ''campagna elettorale'', ''campagna pubblicitaria''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # The season of a farming activity or its [[m|en|harvest]]: ''la campagna del pomodoro''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(heraldry)'' The [[m|en|base]] of the shield, its lower third.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[campagnolo]]

+ * [[scampagnata]]

+ * [[scampagnare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Campania]]

+ * [[campo]]

+ * [[campale]]

+ * [[champagne]]

+ * [[fr|campagne]]

+ * [[en|campaign]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Set phrases include ''in aperta campagna'' “in open country”, ''battere la campagna'' “to scour the countryside” and ''darsi'' or ''buttarsi alla campagna'' “to become an outlaw, to go into hiding”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}