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aereo

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aereo1 of the air, aerial

Pronunciation

  • /aˈɛ.re.o/[1]

Forms

aereo (feminine aerea, masculine plural aerei, feminine plural aeree)[1] Old Italian forms include aereu, aiereo and aierei;[2] older and literary Italian also had aerio, used by Aretino, Menzini and Manzoni.[3][4]

Etymology

The adjective is a learned word, borrowed from Latin āerius (“of the air, airy”), from Ancient Greek ἀέριος (aérios, “high in the air”), a derivative of ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”).[3][2][5][1] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Treccani give the Latin as the variant aĕrĕus, formed on āēr (“air”).[6][7][8][9] DEI explains the spelling with ⟨e⟩ in some manuscripts as a confusion with the Latin adjective aereus (“of bronze”), from aes (“bronze”).[10][11]

According to the LEI, the Latin word lived on with popular sound changes only in Old Lombard ayreo, which was also influenced by ayro (“air”).[3] Italian, Old Occitan aerea (about 1350), Spanish aéreo (1589) and Portuguese aéreo have the learned form.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo, an Aretine author, in 1282, in the sense “made of air; belonging to the air, the sky or the atmosphere”.[2][12] Nocentini, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti date the adjective to the 14th century.[5][13][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for what is made of air or lives in the air, and by extension for what is light and thin like air.[2] The LEI dates the sense “formed of air” from Zanobi da Strada (1364), the sense “light, ethereal” from Anguillara (1561) and “rising high in the air; open, airy” from Tasso (1581); Galileo used it for empty, groundless talk before 1642.[3] Leonardo's prospettiva aerea, the painter's perspective that shows distance through the gradation of colours, is recorded before 1519.[3] Tasso's dove passes “per l'aeree strade”, along the paths of the air.[4]

In the 20th century the adjective took on its commonest modern use, for aviation: D'Annunzio has it in 1938 for air navigation, and phrases such as linea aerea, compagnia aerea and posta aerea belong to this sense.[3][7][14] Botany calls roots and branches that grow above the ground aerei, and anatomy calls the upper respiratory passages vie aeree.[12][8][14]

Timeline

  • 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses aereo for what belongs to the air.[2]
  • 1364 – Zanobi da Strada has it for spirits formed of air.[3]
  • Before 1519 – Leonardo writes of prospettiva aerea.[3]
  • 1561 – Anguillara uses it in the sense “light, ethereal”.[3]
  • 1581 – Tasso uses it for what rises high in the air.[3]
  • Before 1642 – Galileo applies it to groundless talk.[3]
  • 1938 – D'Annunzio uses it for air navigation.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of air, made of air: gli spazi aerei sopra la città.[5][7][12]
  2. (figurative) Light and delicate, ethereal: Ballava con passi aerei.[5][13][8]
  3. (figurative) Without foundation, insubstantial: progetti aerei che non si realizzano mai.[5][7][12]
  4. Situated or carried in the air, overhead: Il tram prende la corrente da una linea aerea.[5][13][8]
  5. (literary) Rising high into the air, lofty; open and airy.[7][13][8]
  6. Relating to aviation or done by aircraft: Hanno spedito il pacco per posta aerea.[5][7][13]
  7. (botany) Of a part of a plant: growing above the ground, as aerial roots.[5][12][8]
  8. (anatomy) Of the upper respiratory tract: vie aeree.[5][13][12]
  9. (painting) Of perspective: rendering distance through gradations of colour and light.[13][8]

Noun

  1. (radio) An outdoor aerial or antenna.[5][12][14]

Word family

  • antiaereo
  • contraereo
  • subaereo

aereo2 aeroplane

Pronunciation

  • /aˈɛ.re.o/[1]

Forms

aereo m (plural aerei)[1]

Etymology

The noun is a shortening of aeroplano, made on the model of the adjective.[15][6][5] DEI takes it instead as a shortening of aeromobile.[10][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Panzini's dictionary of 1918, with the sense “aeroplane”.[15][6][5]

Semantic evolution

The short form soon became the ordinary word for any powered aircraft, and aeroplano the more formal one.[8][14] Compounds name the kinds of aircraft, such as aereo da caccia (fighter), aereo cisterna (tanker aircraft) and aereo spia (spy plane).[5]

Timeline

  • 1918 – Panzini's dictionary records aereo “aeroplane”.[15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An aeroplane, airplane, or any powered aircraft: Il nostro aereo è partito con due ore di ritardo.[5][13][8][1]

Usage notes

The TLIO records a separate Old Italian adjective aereo “of bronze”, from Latin aereus, in Ciampolo di Meo Ugurgieri before 1340.[2] Common phrases with the noun are in aereo (by plane) and prendere l'aereo (to take the plane).[5][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1112
  4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 24
  10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 67
  11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  15. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli