amaro

Forms

amaro (feminine amara, masculine plural amari, feminine plural amare, superlative amarissimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin amārus (“bitter”).^[2][3][4][1] The same word is French amer, Occitan amar, Romanian amar and Friulian amâr.^[3][5][6] In the Iberian Peninsula derivatives took its place, and one of them, through the bitterness of bile, came to mean “yellow”: Spanish amarillo, Portuguese amarelo.^[7][6][8] The noun for the liqueur is the adjective used as a noun.^[2][3]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[2][4] Nocentini, DEI and the older literature compare a root seen in words for “sour” in Sanskrit and Swedish and in German Ampfer (“sorrel”).^[3][8] De Vaan finds this link with words for “sour” the most convincing, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂em-ro-, with the suffix replaced by Latin -ārus; a connection with Ancient Greek ὠμός (ōmós, “raw”) has been proposed too, but its meaning is less close.^[9] Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₃mós (“bitter, raw”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century, with the sense “bitter”, the taste opposite to sweet.^[10] DELI's first example is from Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, already with figurative uses, and the noun “bitter taste, bitterness” follows in Guittone d'Arezzo before 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the adjective described both a taste and painful or sad things, and also a sad or cruel person.^[10][5] It could mean “salty”, of sea water, from a poem of the late 13th century onwards;^[5][11] Gabriele D'Annunzio's “the most bitter Adriatic” (l'amarissimo Adriatico), spoken at a banquet in Rome on 15 January 1908, made l'Amarissimo a name for that sea.^[5][11]

As a noun amaro came to name a bitter herbal liqueur drunk as an aperitif or digestif.^[4][12] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date it to 1889, while DELI's first example is from Lorenzo Viani, before 1936.^[3][13][2] French took amaro in this sense in the mid-20th century.^[14] The noun also names a herbal medicinal infusion and a spoilage of wine caused by bacteria.^[4][15]

In southern Italy the adjective also means “poor, unhappy”, as in Sicilian and Neapolitan exclamations of the type “woe is me”.^[8][6] The diminutive amaretto, the almond biscuit, is recorded in 1863 and gave the name of a liqueur in 1961.^[2]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur have the first record.^[10]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the adjective.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses the noun “bitter taste”.^[2]
• Before 1300 – Amareggiare “to make bitter; to sadden” appears in Guido Cavalcanti.^[2]
• 1499 – Amarognolo “slightly bitter” is recorded in the Ricettario fiorentino.^[2]
• 1863 – Amaretto, the almond biscuit, enters the Crusca dictionary.^[2]
• 1889 – The noun is first recorded for the bitter liqueur.^[3][13]
• 1908 – D'Annunzio calls the Adriatic amarissimo.^[11]
• Mid-20th century – French borrows amaro for the liqueur.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. bitter, having the taste opposite to sweet; of coffee, without sugar: Il radicchio crudo è un po' amaro.^[4][13][15]
2. Of a smell, sharp and acrid; of water, salty.^[4][16]
3. (figurative) Painful, sad, causing grief;^[4][13][15] lacrime amare, tears of regret;^[4][13][15] boccone amaro, something hard to swallow.^[4][13][15]
4. (figurative) Harsh, cruel: parole amare.^[4][17]

Noun

1. (singular only) Bitter taste: sapere d'amaro.^[4][13][15]
2. (figurative) Bitterness, resentment;^[4][15][17] avere dell'amaro in corpo, to feel rancour.^[4][15][17]
3. A bitter herbal liqueur drunk as an aperitif or digestif: Dopo cena ci hanno offerto un amaro.^[4][12][15]
4. A medicinal infusion of bitter herbs.^[4]
5. (oenology) A bacterial spoilage of wine, chiefly old red wine.^[4][15]

Word family

• amareggiare
• amaretto
• amarezza
• amarognolo
• amaramente
• inamarire
• rammaricare
• rammarico

Related words

• amaricante
• amarore
• amarulento
• amarume
• amaritudine
• Latin amārus
• French amer

Usage notes

The superlative is amarissimo.^[1] Set phrases include masticare amaro and inghiottire amaro, to put up with a wrong.^[15][16] A homonymous Lombard amarot “greenfinch, bunting” comes from Old High German amaro, the name of a bird, not from the adjective.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 152
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 40