Etymograph

English

sestina

Sestina comes from Italian sestina ‘a six-line stanza, sestet, sestina, sextain’, from sesto ‘sixth’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs ‘six’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱs1‘six’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱstos1‘sixth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekstos1‘sixth’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextus2‘sixth’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentsesto3‘sixth’
  6. Italianc. 1300–presentsestina4‘a six-line stanza, sestet, sestina, sextain’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2002sestina4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin sextus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Italian sesto
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Italian sestina
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English sestina
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2002, Annie Finch, Kathrine Varnes: “Although the sestina is of medieval French origin, attributed…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱsWiktionary, Latin sextus‘six’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱstosWiktionary, Latin sextus‘sixth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekstosWiktionary, Latin sextus‘sixth’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextusWiktionary, Italian sesto‘sixth’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentsestoWiktionary, Italian sestina‘sixth’
  6. Italianc. 1300–presentsestinaWiktionary, English sestina‘a six-line stanza, sestet, sestina, sextain’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2002sestinaWiktionary, English sestina. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2002, Annie Finch, Kathrine Varnes: “Although the sestina is of medieval French origin, attributed…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs ‘six’

six, hexane, 15 more

Today it means

noun A highly structured poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet or envoy, for a total of thirty-nine lines.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sestina”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin sextus, Italian sesto, Italian sestina. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs / sestina

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