mappa Italian · revision 39325

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1299–1309, Belcalzer|origins=la mappa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈmap.pa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mappa''' ''f'' (plural mappe)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|mappa|t=napkin, cloth]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Quintilian already called the Latin word Punic, and DELI and GRADIT class it as pre-Indo-European.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary suggests a Phoenician source meaning “fine cloth”, of Semitic origin.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ DELI numbers the old sense “cloth” and the sense “map” separately, but both continue the same Latin noun.^(DELI 1999) The Roman land surveyors already used the word for any drawing of a piece of land, which may first have been painted on cloth, and, from it came [[la-med|mappa mundi|t=map of the world]].^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|9, 760)^(Nocentini 2010) Italian [[mappamondo]] is recorded from the 13th century, and DEI, Prati and Zingarelli take the geographical sense as a shortening of that compound.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|2358)^(Prati 1951|632)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ The Latin word was also inherited as [[fr|nappe|t=tablecloth]], with ⟨n⟩ from dissimilation, and in Italian [[nappa]] “tassel”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(Prati 1951|632) The old sense survives in the south: [[nap|mappata|t=bundle]] and the derivative [[mappatella]], a packed lunch wrapped in a napkin.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first records are a document from Orvieto of 1312 with ''mappa'' “piece of cloth”, and Belcalzer's Mantuan translation (1299–1309) with the map.^(TLIO) DELI gives a Latinised form at Venice in 1323, in Marino Sanudo Torsello, and the Italian word in Fazio degli Uberti's ''Dittamondo'' before 1357.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|9, 760)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “napkin, tablecloth” and especially the cloth that covers an altar stayed in literary and church use, and in dialects of Campania and Abruzzo the word means a woollen headscarf worn by country women.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|9, 760)^(Zingarelli 2010) The map sense spread from the 16th and 17th centuries: Galileo writes ''mappa'' alone for a chart.^(GDLI)^(Prati 1951|632) In surveying a ''mappa'' is a detailed plan at a large scale, and the ''mappa catastale'' records land holdings for taxation.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ In the 20th century the word was extended to maps of the sky and of the Moon, to the ''mappa genetica'' of the genes on a chromosome, and figuratively to any overview of a situation (''la mappa della criminalità'').^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(GRADIT 2003) It is also the bit of a key that turns in the lock, from a Ligurian word meaning “strap hinge”.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)^(REW 1935) The map sense of Latin passed into English [[m|en|map]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1299–1309 – Belcalzer's Mantuan translation uses ''mappa'' for a map.^(TLIO)

+ * 1312 – A document from Orvieto uses ''mappa'' for a cloth.^(TLIO)

+ * 1323 – The word appears in Latinised form at Venice, in Marino Sanudo Torsello.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1357 – Fazio degli Uberti uses ''mappa'' in the ''Dittamondo''.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|9, 760)

+ * 1733 – ''Mappamondo'' is used for a revolving globe.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1983 – The verb ''mappare'' is first recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(cartography)'' A detailed [[m|en|map]] or plan of an area of land, at a large scale; by extension any map or chart: ''Sulla mappa la strada finisce al fiume.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(astronomy, biology)'' A representation of the surface of a heavenly body, or of the position of [[m|en|gene|alt=genes]] on a chromosome (''mappa genetica'').^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A detailed overview of a situation: ''una mappa delle scuole della provincia''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The bit of a [[m|en|key]] that enters the lock and works it.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(literary)'' A napkin or tablecloth, especially the cloth on an [[m|en|altar]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GDLI|9, 760)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mappare]]

+ * [[mappamondo]]

+ * [[mappatura]]

+ * [[mappatella]]

+ * [[mappale]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nappa]]

+ * [[la|mappa]]

+ * [[fr|nappe]]

+ * [[en|map]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Mappa catastale'' is the land-registry map, and ''mappa del tesoro'' a treasure map.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}