acqua

Forms

acqua f (plural acque, diminutive acquerèlla or acquétta or acquicèlla or acquolìna)^[1] Old texts also have Old Italian aqua, Old Italian agua and Old Italian aigua.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ăqua (“water”).^{[4][5][6][1][7]} The doubled consonant is old: the Appendix Probi already corrects a Late Latin pronunciation with -cqu-.^[7][8][9] The LEI divides the outcomes into three groups: forms such as Ligurian aigua in northern Italy, Gaul and Iberia, the type with /kkw/ in central and southern Italy, and a type with /au/ in the far south and in Mozarabic.^[7] Whether the Old Italian forms with /ai/ came from Old Occitan through the Sicilian poets or from the north into Old Tuscan cannot be decided.^[7]

The word is pan-Romance: French eau, Occitan aiga, Catalan aigua, Spanish agua, Sardinian abba, Friulian aghe and Romanian apă.^[5][10]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *akʷā.^[11][1] Its only close cognates are Germanic, Gothic 𐌰𐍈𐌰 (ahwa, “river”) and Old High German aha, from Proto-Germanic *ahwō.^[11][5] Nocentini reconstructs a PIE form for water as an active element, and Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *h₂ékʷeh₂, while de Vaan thinks the Germanic and Italic word may be a loan from a non-Indo-European language.^[5][1][11] Devoto calls it a word of the north-western Indo-European languages, also found in German Aue (“wet meadow”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Canticle of the Creatures of Francis of Assisi, in 1224: Laudato si, mi Signore, per sor Aqua, / la quale è molto utile e umile e preziosa e casta (“Praised be you, my Lord, for Sister Water, who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste”).^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “rain” is recorded in Dante in 1293–1294, “urine” in Giordano da Pisa in 1305–1306, and “a body of water, river, lake or sea” in Dante before 1321.^[4] In many dialects acqua has replaced Latin pluvia as the word for rain.^[12] The poets of the Sicilian school and their Tuscan followers wrote aigua, as Guido delle Colonne and Guinizelli did.^[2]

From Medieval Latin came compounds such as acquavite (aqua vitae, “water of life”, before 1484 in Pulci as acqua vita) and acquaforte, nitric acid (Medieval Latin aqua fortis at Piacenza in 1336).^[4] Benvenuto Cellini used acqua for the clarity of a precious stone (before 1571), whence della più bell'acqua, “of the purest kind” (1922).^[4] Acqua di soda is a calque of English soda water, and acqua di Colonia is named after the city of its inventor.^[4]

Many proverbs and set phrases use the word: acqua in bocca! (“keep it quiet!”), acqua passata non macina più (“what is past is past”) and il sangue non è acqua.^[6][13][14] In 19th-century English slang aqua came from Italian and the Lingua Franca.^[15]

Timeline

• 1224 – Francis of Assisi praises sor Aqua.^[4][2]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses acqua for rain.^[4]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for urine.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a body of water.^[4]
• 1336 – Medieval Latin aqua fortis is recorded at Piacenza.^[4]
• Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci writes acqua vita.^[4]
• Before 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci writes acquavite.^[4]
• Before 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini uses acqua for the clarity of a gem.^[4]
• 1922 – Della più bell'acqua is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. water, the clear liquid without colour, smell or taste that is essential to life: Mi porti un bicchiere d'acqua frizzante?^[6][14][16]
2. (chemistry) The compound of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen, as liquid, ice or vapour.^[6][14][17]
3. In ancient philosophy, one of the four elements.^[6]
4. rain: Stanotte è venuta giù tanta acqua.^[6][17]
5. A mass or stretch of water, often in the plural: le acque del lago.^[6][17]
6. (plural) spa waters: Ogni estate va a Montecatini per le acque..^[6][17]
7. (rowing) A lane in a race.^[6][1]
8. The juice of fruit and vegetables, or a liquid preparation in pharmacy and perfumery.^[17][6]
9. The clarity and brilliance of a precious stone.^[17][4]
10. (plural) The amniotic fluid: Le si sono rotte le acque.^[17][2]

Word family

• acquaio
• acquaiolo
• acquamarina
• acquaplano
• acquaragia
• acquata
• acquatinta
• acquavite
• acquaforte
• acquafortista
• acquasanta
• acquerello
• acquerugiola
• acquetta
• acquolina
• acqueo
• annacquare

Related words

• acquamanile
• acquare
• Acquario
• acquario
• acquatico
• acquatile
• acquato
• acquazzone
• acquedotto
• acquitrino
• acquoso
• Latin aqua

Usage notes

Tommaseo notes that the word was written acqua, not aqua, even when spelling followed Latin closely, because Tuscan and the dialects pronounce the /k/.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 388
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 44
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET