maniera Italian · revision 39217

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 12th century, Proverbia que dicuntur (Venetian)|origins=la manus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /maˈnjɛ.ra/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''maniera''' ''f'' (plural maniere)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|manera]], [[roa-oit|mainera]], [[roa-oit|maynera]] and [[roa-oit|magnera]].^(TLIO)^(GDLI|9, 676) Pisan, Lucchese and Pistoiese dialects have ''magnèra''.^(DEI|2349)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|maniere]] (1119), the noun use of the feminine of the Old French adjective [[m|fro|manier|t=done by hand, handy]], from [[la-lat|manuārius|t=of the hand]], from [[la|manus|t=hand]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) DELI notes that the adjective, though recorded later (1160–1190), must be the older word.^(DELI 1999) Nocentini, DEI and Prati also name [[pro|maniera]] as a source or intermediary.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2349)^(Prati 1951|627) Devoto reconstructs [[la-vul|*manarius]] in place of the Late Latin form.^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ The French word was also borrowed as [[es|manera]] and [[pt|maneira]], and into English as [[m|en|manner]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2349) The French adjective itself gave the old Italian adjective [[m|roa-oit|maniero|t=tame, pleasant]].^(Prati 1951|627)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The same Latin adjective is the source of [[mannaia]] “cleaver, axe”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is the Venetian ''Proverbia que dicuntur'' of the late 12th century.^(TLIO) DELI's first dated example is Bonagiunta Orbicciani of Lucca, around 1257, for a particular way of doing or being.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the word named a way of acting, the outward look of a person or thing, customs, and a kind or variety: Boccaccio and Sacchetti use it for a sort of people or things.^(TLIO)^(Prati 1951|627) The sense of an artist's or a school's style is recorded in Cennino Cennini in the 15th century.^(DELI 1999) DEI regards ''buone maniere'' “good manners” as a later, separate borrowing from French, parallel to [[de|Manier]] in the 17th century.^(DEI|2349)

+

+ In art criticism ''maniera'' came to mean conventional repetition of formulas, and ''di maniera'' means “conventional, lacking originality”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020) ''Manierismo'' was used for imitation of a model before 1810 (Luigi Lanzi), and the name of the late Renaissance movement was introduced by Werner Weisbach in a German article of 1919.^(DELI 1999) ''Manierato'' “affected” was condemned in 1813 as a stale Gallicism.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1119 – French ''manière'' is first recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Late 12th century – ''Maniera'' appears in the Venetian ''Proverbia que dicuntur''.^(TLIO)

+ * About 1257 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses it.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 15th century – Cennino Cennini uses it for an artist's style.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1810 – Luigi Lanzi uses ''manierismo''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1919 – Werner Weisbach writes on ''Der Manierismus''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1934 – The ''Enciclopedia italiana'' has ''manierismo'' for the late Renaissance movement.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|manner]], [[m|en|way]]: a particular way of acting, doing or being: ''Ognuno risolve i problemi alla sua maniera.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # After ''in'' with an adjective, forming adverbial phrases: ''Ha risposto in maniera cortese.'' ''In maniera che'' means “so that”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # (usually plural) [[m|en|manners]], behaviour towards others: ''buone maniere'', ''cattive maniere''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Tact, courtesy: ''Con un po' di maniera lo convinci.''^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Custom, fashion: ''vestire alla maniera orientale''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(art)'' The [[m|en|style]] of an artist, a school or a period: ''il Picasso della prima maniera''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(art)'' Conventional imitation of formulas, lack of originality: ''un ritratto di maniera''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(literary)'' Kind, sort.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[manierato]]

+ * [[manierismo]]

+ * [[manierista]]

+ * [[manieristico]]

+ * [[manieroso]]

+ * [[ammanierare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mano]]

+ * [[mannaia]]

+ * [[modo]]

+ * [[fr|manière]]

+ * [[la|manuarius]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Maniera'' and ''modo'' are often interchangeable.^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Fixed expressions include ''c'è modo e maniera'', said when something has been done tactlessly, and the reproach ''che maniere!''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) An archaic adjective ''maniero'', feminine ''maniera'', meant in falconry a tame, well-trained bird.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}