allegro

Forms

allegro (feminine allegra, masculine plural allegri, feminine plural allegre, superlative allegrissimo)^[1] Old forms include alegro, aliegro, legro and allegru, and old Piedmontese aler.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[4][3] DELI derives it from Old French allegre, recorded about 1130, whose ⟨e⟩ for /a/ and ⟨g⟩ for /k/ are French developments of Latin alacer (“lively, eager”).^[4] In the LEI's view, followed by Nocentini, GRADIT and the TLIO, it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *alecris, a variant of the Latin adjective that is also the source of the Gallo-Romance forms.^[3][5][6][2] The LEI argues against a loan from Gallo-Romance with an Engadine form, native northern forms such as aler, and Tuscan personal names ⟨Alegricto⟩ (1067) and ⟨Allegretti⟩ (1084), older than the influence of the troubadours; the Tuscan ⟨gr⟩ would come from northern Italian voicing.^[3] The TLIO records the name in two documents from Lucca of 1105.^[2] The DEI held the word to be almost certainly from Gallo-Romance territory, and Meyer-Lübke was unsure that it was native in Italy.^[7][8] M. Morani pointed out the anomalies: /eː/ from /a/, the double ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨gr⟩ for ⟨cr⟩.^[4]

The word is Friulian legri, Occitan alegre and Catalan alegre, from which Spanish alegre and Portuguese alegre come.^[5][8] The DEI says that Old French haliegre (12th century) was replaced in the 16th century by French allègre, a loan from Italian.^[7] The stress moved to the second syllable because of the cluster ⟨cr⟩.^[5][9]

The Latin adjective may be derived from the root of ambulō (“to walk”), Proto-Indo-European *h₂elh₂- (“to wander, roam”), though the meaning does not require it and the suffix is rare.^[10][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the last quarter of the 12th century, in the sense “glad, happy”.^[2] The LEI and GRADIT date the standard form allegro to about 1274, and DELI cites Dante, 1293–1294.^[3][6][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word of people and of things that bring joy, and also for “healthy” and of plants and land that thrive;^[2][11][12] Zingarelli and Sabatini–Coletti give “fertile” as an obsolete sense.^[2][11][12] The sense “tipsy” is old too.^[2] Dante writes Allegro mi sembrava Amor (“Love seemed glad to me”) in the Vita Nuova.^[9]

As a musical term, a lively tempo between andante and presto, the word is recorded before 1566 in Annibale Caro.^[4][13] It passed into the international vocabulary of music: German has it from 1638, French from 1703 and English from 1721 as a direction.^[13][14] English records the noun even earlier, in 1683.^[13] Milton's L'Allegro (1632) uses the adjective in its literal sense.^[14][13] Allegretto follows in 1758, though French already had it in 1703.^[4]

In modern Italian the word also means careless or not quite honest, as in finanza allegra, and donnina allegra is a euphemism for a woman of easy virtue.^[6][11][15]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur use the adjective.^[2]
• About 1274 – Allegro appears in the Fiori di filosafi.^[3][6]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses it in the Vita Nuova.^[4]
• Before 1566 – Annibale Caro uses allegro as a musical term.^[4]
• 1632 – Milton's L'Allegro is published.^[14]
• 1638 – German allegro is recorded as a musical direction.^[13]
• 1703 – French takes the musical term.^[13]
• 1721 – English allegro is first recorded as a musical direction.^[14][13]
• 1758 – Allegretto is recorded in Italian.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. cheerful, happy, showing joy: Mia nonna è una donna sempre allegra.^[6][16][1]
2. That brings cheer; lively, bright: Ha scelto delle tende dai colori allegri.^[6][11][16]
3. Of a place, pleasant, charming.^[6][11]
4. Of a fire or flame, burning briskly.^[6][17]
5. (colloquial) tipsy.^[6][11][12]
6. Thoughtless, careless, or not quite honest: Ha gestito i soldi del club in modo un po' allegro.^[6][12][11]
7. (heraldry) Of a horse, passant and without harness.^[6][11]
8. (obsolete) Of land or plants, fertile, thriving.^[6][11][12]

Adverb

1. (music) In a fairly quick tempo, between andante and presto.^[13][18]

Noun

1. (music) A fairly quick tempo, and a piece or movement played in it.^[11][17][12]

Word family

• allegria
• allegrezza
• allegretto
• allegramente
• allegrone
• rallegrare
• allegrare
• allegroccio

Related words

• alacre
• Latin alacer
• French allègre

Usage notes

The stressed vowel is closed or open: /alˈle.ɡro/ or /alˈlɛ.ɡro/.^[1][11] The proverb gente allegra il ciel l'aiuta says that cheerful people find help.^[16][15][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1419
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 k l 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. 128
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org