piscina Italian · revision 39230

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1298, Siena|origins=ine-pro *pisk-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /piʃˈʃi.na/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''piscina''' ''f'' (plural piscine)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[m|roa-oit|pescina]] (Boccaccio), [[m|roa-oit|pascina]], [[m|roa-oit|pessina]] and [[m|roa-oit|pisina]].^(DEI|2950)^(GDLI|13, 562)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|piscīna|t=fishpond]], from [[m|la|piscis|t=fish]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) The Latin noun is formed with the suffix [[m|la|-īnus|alt=-īna]] and meant a fishpond or tank, then also a bathing pool (Seneca, 1st century).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(DEI|2950) DEI considers this form certainly learned.^(DEI|2950)

+

+ The word also lived on in popular use, in [[m|roa-oit|pescina]] and in the Tuscan place names Pescina and Pescinale, recorded from the 11th century.^(DEI|2950)^(Prati 1951|783) Its dialect outcomes are [[vec|pisina|t=puddle, mud]], Logudorese [[sc|piskina]] and [[es|pecina|t=mud]].^(REW 1935)^(DEI|2950) The same Latin word gave [[fr|piscine]], recorded as [[m|fro|pecine]] from about 1200.^(DEI|2950)^(GDLI|13, 562)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The Latin noun goes back to [[itc-pro|*piski-]] and [[ine-pro|*pisk-|t=fish]], the source also of [[got|𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃|tr=fisks]] and [[sga|íasc]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is from Siena in 1298, where the word names a wash-house; in the sermons of Giordano da Pisa, 1305–1306, it is a tank of water for bathing.^(DELI 1999) DEI and Prati find it in the Italian translation of Albertano da Brescia, of the 13th century, where the speaker has made ''piscine d'acqua'', water tanks to irrigate his woods.^(DEI|2950)^(Prati 1951|783)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 14th century the word also named a vat for soaking leather and a watering trough for animals.^(DEI|2950) A 16th-century writer explained that ''piscine'' were at first places for keeping fish, and that the name later passed to every place where people could swim and bathe.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The ''piscina probatica'' of the Gospels, the pool near the Temple of Jerusalem where the sacrificial animals were washed, comes from Late Latin, after a Greek name meaning “sheep pool”.^(DEI|2950)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ The modern swimming pool and the building around it are the main senses today.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) A ''piscina olimpionica'' is 50 metres long with eight lanes.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) In nuclear engineering the word names the pool in which a reactor core is placed.^(GRADIT 2003) Greek borrowed the word as [[el|πισίνα|tr=pisína]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 11th century – Tuscan place names ''Pescina'' are recorded.^(Prati 1951|783)

+ * 13th century – The translation of Albertano da Brescia uses ''piscina''.^(DEI|2950)

+ * 1298 – A Sienese record uses the word for a wash-house.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for a bathing tank.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 14th century – Boccaccio has the popular form ''pescina''.^(DEI|2950)

+ * 14th century – ''Piscina probatica'' is recorded in Fazio degli Uberti.^(DEI|2950)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|swimming pool]]: ''D'estate i bambini passano i pomeriggi in piscina.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The building with a pool and its changing rooms and showers: ''La piscina comunale chiude alle nove.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(historical)'' A tank of water used as a [[m|en|reservoir]], wash-house, fishpond or watering trough.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(nuclear engineering)'' A large pool in which the core of a [[m|en|reactor]] is placed.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[piscinetta]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pesce]]

+ * [[peschiera]]

+ * [[la|piscis]]

+ * [[fr|piscine]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}