Etymologically
Log in

piano

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 18:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

French has two words piano, both from Italian: the adverb “softly”, borrowed in the 16th century, and the instrument, shortened from piano-forte in the 18th.[1][2][3][4]

piano1 softly

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pja.no/[5]

Forms

piano (adverb, invariable)[4][6] Piane piane (1505), pian pian (1578), pian piano (1618), piano (1740).[2][1]

Etymology

The adverb is borrowed from Italian piano (“softly, gently”), an adverb from about 1300–1313 (Dante), often doubled as “pian piano”,[1][2][7][5][8] from the adjective piano (“flat, smooth; calm, soft”), from Latin plānus (“flat”), the source of plan and plain.[1][2][7][6] Littré explains the sense by softness being compared to something smooth.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rémy Belleau's comedy La Reconnue (1578) has pian pian “very gently”, preceded by piane piane (1505), which kept the Italian stress.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

In everyday speech the word means “gently, slowly”, sometimes Frenchified again as piane-piane (1867), and it is known from the proverb chi va piano va sano.[2][4] As a musical direction, “softly”, written p, it is found from 1740 (Charles de Brosses), and figuratively in Beaumarchais's piano piano (1775).[1][2][9] The superlative pianissimo was borrowed in 1775.[2][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1300–1313 – Italian piano “gently” (Dante).[1][2]
  • 1505 – Piane piane.[2]
  • 1578 – Pian pian (Belleau).[1][2]
  • 1618 – Pian piano.[1][10]
  • 1740 – The musical direction (Charles de Brosses).[1][9]
  • 1775 – Piano piano and pianissimo (Beaumarchais).[1][2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. (music) Softly, piano; as a noun, a passage played softly.[4][11]
  2. (familiar) Gently, slowly: allez-y piano ![4][11]

Word family

  • pianissimo

piano2 musical instrument

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pja.no/[5]

Forms

piano m (plural pianos)[5] Piano et forte (1766), piano-forte (1771), forte-piano[2][3]; piano (1774).[2][3]

Etymology

The instrument is a clipping of pianoforte (1771[1][2][7][3][4]; “piano et forte” 1766),[1][2][7][3][4] borrowed from Italian pianoforte, earlier “piano e forte” (1732), from piano (“softly”) and forte (“loudly”).[2][7] Unlike the harpsichord, whose strings are always plucked in the same way, its hammers let the player play softly or loudly at will.[7][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Voltaire uses piano-forte and piano in 1774;[7][9] the short form became usual from 1786.[7]

Semantic evolution

The piano spread quickly in the 19th century[1]; Chateaubriand wrote that “wherever there is a piano, there is no more coarseness”.[1] The player was called pianiste from 1829, and Balzac made pianoter “to strum” (1847).[7]

Types are distinguished as piano droit “upright piano”, piano à queue “grand piano” and piano demi-queue.[4]

Timeline

  • 1732 – Italian piano e forte.[2]
  • 1766 – Piano et forte.[2][3]
  • 1771 – Piano-forte.[3]
  • 1774 – Piano (Voltaire).[7][9]
  • 1798 – First recorded by the Académie.[9]
  • 1829 – Pianiste.[7]
  • 1847 – Pianoter (Balzac).[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A piano, a keyboard instrument whose strings are struck by hammers: piano droit, piano à queue.[4][5]
  2. The art of playing the piano: professeur de piano.[4]

Word family

  • pianiste

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 31b
  9. ^ a b c d e Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)