English

Proper noun

Mantua

1. Province of Lombardy, Italy.
2. City and capital of Mantua.

   —He and I / Will watch thy waking, and that very night / Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua. — Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare

Translations

Latin

Etymology

From Etruscan *Manθva (compare 𐌄𐌕𐌀𐌅𐌈𐌍𐌀𐌌 'Manθvate 'Mantuan' after Mantus, god of the underworld).

Proper noun

Mantua

1. Mantua (city)

Descendants

• English: Mantua
• French: Mantoue
• Italian: Mantova

References

• Mantua in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “Mantua”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.

English

A 17th century picture of a woman wearing a mantua

Noun

mantua ‎(plural mantuas)

1. An article of loose clothing popular in 17th- and 18th century France.
2. (obsolete) A superior kind of rich silk formerly exported from Mantua in Italy.
   • 1882, S. William Beck, The Draper's Dictionary

     Anderson mentions black and coloured mantuas amongst other silks introduced here by the French immigrants of 1685. […] Mantuas are also included in a list of silks advertised for sale in the British Chronicle of 1763 […]

3. (obsolete) A woman's cloak or mantle.
4. (obsolete) A woman's gown.