Italian

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English Italian,^[2][1] which the OED, the American Heritage Dictionary, Dictionary.com and Wiktionary take as borrowed from Latin Italiānus,^[2][3][1][4] from Italia (“Italy”).^[2][3][1] The OED compares French Italien,^[3] Dictionary.com and Wiktionary call the Latin form Medieval,^[4][1] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged analyses the word as the Latin name of Italy with the Middle English ending -an.^[5] Etymonline, Hoad, the Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English, Klein and Partridge derive it instead from Italian italiano, itself from Italia.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]} The Latin name is said to come from Ancient Greek Ἰταλία (Italía),^[6][5] though Partridge thinks the Greek name comes from the Latin one.^[11] Its origin is unknown.^[6] Etymonline reports the suggestion that it alters Oscan Viteliú (“Italy”), which first named only the southwestern point of the peninsula, and the traditional derivation from a tribe, the Vitali, or from a legendary ruler Italus.^[6] Klein and Partridge explain it as "land of cattle", related to Latin vitulus (“calf”), the source of veal.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A native of Italy: 1439, in the Rolls of Parliament.^[3] Etymonline dates the noun to the early 15th century,^[6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 14th century,^[5] and Dictionary.com gives the range 1350–1400.^[4] Etymonline adds that the Italians were earlier called the Italies, in the late 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The name of the language followed the name of the people, in Caxton's preface to Malory's Morte Darthur (1485) according to the OED,^[3][8] although Etymonline dates this sense to the late 14th century.^[6] The adjective is recorded from the early 16th century,^[8][6] first of ancient Italy, in Gavin Douglas's translation of the Aeneid (1513), then of the language (1530) and of the country and its people (before 1549).^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the adjective to the 15th century.^[5] From 1571 it named a slanting cursive handwriting developed in the Renaissance.^[3][8] From the 1880s the noun was also used for a thing from Italy: imported articles (1883), Italian cloth (1897) and Italian vermouth (1929), chiefly in gin and Italian.^[3] In slang, Green's Dictionary records the adjective from 1586 for anal intercourse, treated as a "dirty" foreign practice,^[12] and the American noun for anger or bad temper in 1991, in the phrase to have one's Italian up.^[12] In English dialect, an Italian iron was a tube for crimping cap-frills in Durham and Yorkshire, and an Italian rat a small red rat in Norfolk, said to have come off foreign ships.^[13]

Timeline

• 1439 – noun, a native of Italy.^[3]
• 1485 – noun, the Italian language.^[3] Etymonline dates this sense to the late 14th century.^[6]
• 1513 – adjective, of ancient Italy.^[3] Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1510s.^[6]
• 1530 – adjective, of the language of Italy.^[3]
• before 1549 – adjective, of Italy or its people.^[3]
• 1571 – adjective, of a cursive handwriting developed in Italy.^[3]
• 1586 – slang, adjective, of anal intercourse.^[12]
• 1883 – noun, plural, goods imported from Italy.^[3]
• 1897 – noun, Italian cloth.^[3]
• 1929 – noun, Italian vermouth.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A native, citizen or inhabitant of Italy, or a descendant of one.^[14][5][3]
2. The Romance language of Italy, descended from Vulgar Latin.^[14][5][3]
3. Vermouth from Italy, as in gin and Italian.^[14][3][8]
4. Italian cloth, or goods imported from Italy.^[3][8]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to Italy, its people or their language: an Italian grammar book.^[14][5][3]
2. (archaic) Of the slanting cursive handwriting developed in Italy, as in Italian hand.^[3][8]

Word family

• Italianesque
• anti-Italian
• Italianate
• Italianise
• Italianism
• Italianize

Related words

• Italy
• italic

Usage notes

A first syllable pronounced like eye is, according to Dictionary.com, heard mainly from uneducated speakers, is sometimes meant as facetious or disparaging, and is usually considered offensive.^[4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged labels it chiefly dialectal, substandard or disparaging.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins