Etymologically
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albergo

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Pronunciation

  • /alˈbɛr.ɡo/[1]

Forms

albergo m (plural alberghi)[1] Old Italian forms include abergo, alberc, alipergu and arbergo.[2] Rural Tuscan has abbergo, and Lucca bergo.[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Gothic *haribergo (“military lodging”), a reconstructed Gothic compound of 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌹𐍃 (harjis, “army”) and a noun related to 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌲𐌰𐌽 (bairgan, “to keep, protect”).[4][5][6][7][8] Devoto–Oli traces it through the Medieval Latin variants haribergum, harbergum and albergum.[9] The Gothic word also gave the Occitan, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese words, such as Old Occitan alberga, Catalan alberc and Spanish albergue, while Old French herberge comes from the corresponding Frankish *heriberga.[7][8][5] The word French auberge is a loan from Occitan.[8] Wiktionary instead derives the word from Medieval Latin alberga, itself from a West Germanic source.[1]

The Germanic compound meant a shelter for an army.[10] Old High German heribërc also passed from “military camp” to “inn”, and the same compound is the source of German Herberge and of the English word harbour.[10] The Medieval Latin form alipergum appears in the Codex Cavensis in 996, and the Reichenau Glosses have heribergo “camp”.[3][1] The variant ⟨abergo⟩ arose by dissimilation from l'albergo.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first Italian record is in the Frottola of Patecchio of Cremona, in the 13th century; a Latinized form, albergos “lodgings”, appears in a charter of 1125 from the Florentine countryside.[2] DELI cites Medieval Latin albergus at Bologna in 1288, abergo in 1288–1290, and albergo in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), where the pilgrim on an unknown road believes each house he sees to be the inn until he reaches it.[4][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian albergo was first a dwelling or palace where one lives, then any lodging, and a place where one pays for board and lodging; figuratively it was shelter or protection.[2] Petrarch uses it for the seat of a feeling, and Tasso for a solitary dwelling; these senses are now literary.[6][12] Gabrielli and Prati record the place where birds roost for the night.[13][3]

The modern sense, a building providing paid accommodation, became the main one, with compounds such as albergo diurno (a day facility with baths and services), albergo per la gioventù (youth hostel), casa albergo and, recently, albergo diffuso, whose rooms are spread over several buildings of a village.[6][9][14] The derived albergatore “innkeeper” is recorded as Medieval Latin at Parma in 1255 and in Italian at Siena in 1278.[4] English used albergo (plural albergi) from 1617, and German also has it.[15]

Timeline

  • 996 – Medieval Latin alipergum is recorded in the Codex Cavensis.[3]
  • 1125 – A Florentine charter has the Latinized albergos.[2]
  • Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the verb albergare.[4]
  • 13th century – Patecchio of Cremona uses albergo.[2]
  • 1278 – Albergatore “innkeeper” is recorded at Siena.[4]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses albergo for an inn in the Convivio.[4][11]
  • 1617 – English albergo is first recorded.[15]
  • 1927 – The adjective alberghiero appears.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hotel or inn: a building with rooms providing paid accommodation and often meals: Abbiamo prenotato due notti in un albergo vicino alla stazione.[6][9][12]
  2. (literary) Shelter, hospitality for the night: dare albergo, to give shelter.[6][12][14]
  3. (figurative, literary) The seat or dwelling place of something, such as a feeling.[6][16]
  4. (archaic, poetic) A dwelling, home; also an animal's lair.[6][12][16]

Word family

  • albergare
  • albergatore
  • alberghiero
  • albergheria
  • alberghetto
  • ostello
  • hotel
  • French auberge
  • German Herberge

Usage notes

Albergo and the French loan hotel are synonyms; a more modest establishment is a pensione or locanda.[12][14] An albergo a ore lets rooms by the hour, and a topo d'albergo is a hotel thief.[6][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 34
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 109
  8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
  11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana