ampio

Forms

ampio (feminine ampia, masculine plural ampi, feminine plural ampie, superlative amplissimo or (uncommon) ampissimo)^[1] The literary form is amplo, and Old Italian also has anplo and ampllo.^[2][3] Dialect outcomes include Genoese ancio, Piedmontese anpi and Sicilian ànchiu.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin amplus (“large, ample”).^{[5][6][7][4][1]} The Latin cluster /pl/ became /pj/ in this word, while the literary variant amplo keeps it.^[2]

The Latin adjective also lives on in French ample (from the 11th century), Occitan ample, Catalan ample, Spanish ancho (“wide”) and Portuguese ancho.^[4][6][8] Romanian amplu is a learned borrowing.^[4]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain, and Nocentini and Devoto find no comparisons in other languages.^[5][6][9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *amlos (“seizable”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃mh₃- (“to grab”), with the /p/ inserted as in exemplum beside emō, but notes that the vowel would not normally have been lost early enough.^[10][1] Wiktionary also gives the older view that it stands for a compound of ambi- (“both”) and an element related to plēnus (“full”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma (1252–58).^[3] The Venetian form amplo appears about 1250 in the Proverbia super natura feminarum, and DELI's first record is the Fiore di rettorica.^[4][5] The first sense is “of great size”, in width, area or volume.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Dante and Boccaccio used the word also for what is copious, abundant or rich (about 1308–1353), a sense taken up again from Tasso on.^[4] Boccaccio writes of vie ampissime, tutte diritte come strale “very wide streets, all straight as an arrow”.^[11] From 1606 it describes a redundant or diffuse style, and the dictionaries from 1691 to 1893 record a sense “generous, munificent”; of clothes, “loose, roomy”, it is recorded from 1893.^[4]

As a noun it meant “width”: Dante's La vista mia nell'ampio e nell'altezza / non si smarriva “my sight was not lost in the breadth and the height”.^[12] The superlative has both ampissimo and the Latinising amplissimo.^[13] The derivative ampiezza dates from before 1294, and its sense “amplitude” in physics from 1865.^[5]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – First record, in the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma.^[3]
• Before 1294 – Ampiezza is recorded.^[5]
• About 1308 – Dante uses it for “abundant, rich”.^[4]
• 1606 – Davanzati uses it of a diffuse style.^[4]
• 1865 – Ampiezza “amplitude” in physics is recorded.^[5]
• 1893 – The sense “loose, roomy” of clothes is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. wide, spacious, extensive; roomy, capacious: Abitano in un ampio appartamento in centro.^[7][14][2]
2. Of clothes, loose, roomy: Indossava una gonna ampia e leggera.^[7][14][15]
3. (figurative) Abundant, ample, thorough: su ampia scala “on a large scale”, di ampie vedute “broad-minded”.^[7][14][15]
4. (figurative) Of a meaning, broad, general.^[7][14]
5. Of style, diffuse, redundant.^[7][16]

Noun

1. (obsolete) Width, breadth.^[7][16][12]

Word family

• ampiezza
• ampiamente
• ampiare

Related words

• ampliare
• amplitudine
• amplo
• amplificare
• Latin amplus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 957
5. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
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. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli