Etymologically
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anello

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Pronunciation

  • /aˈnɛl.lo/[1]

Forms

anello m (plural anelli)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ānellus (“little ring”), a diminutive of ānulus (“ring”), itself a diminutive of ānus (“ring, circle”).[2][3][4][1][5] The later diminutive took over the main sense of the older word, a finger ring.[4]

The word lives on in all the Romance languages: Old French anel (modern French anneau), Old Occitan anel, Catalan anell, Spanish anillo, Portuguese elo “link of a chain”, Sardinian anéḍḍu, Friulian anèl and Romanian inel.[3][4][6][7] The LEI also finds in the dialects the secondary senses that the Latin word already had, “lock of hair” and “anus”, and notes that in Emilia, Romagna and Umbria the noun changed gender and lost its initial vowel, which was taken for the article.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Savona document of 1178–1182.[8] DELI's earliest Italian forms are anellu in the Ritmo su Sant'Alessio, from the beginning of the 13th century, and anello in the Novellino at the end of that century, for a small circle of gold, silver or other metal worn on the finger.[2][4] A Piedmontese anel appears about 1200 in the Sermoni subalpini.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the ring was worn as an ornament, as a pledge of fidelity and as a sign of public or religious office, and it served as a seal.[8] The TLIO also records the senses “thimble”, “earring” and the name of a game of chance.[8] The old plural was the feminine anella: Dante speaks of the long war “che dell'anella fé sì alte spoglie” (that made such high spoils of rings), and Petrarch of a ring without a gem, like a meadow without flowers.[9][10]

From the 14th century the word named any ring-shaped object or structure, and in 1581 Torquato Tasso used it for a curl of hair.[2] Learned senses followed: parts of the body shaped like a ring (from the 18th century), the segments of an insect (from the 17th century) and the ring of Saturn (from the 18th century).[11] In gymnastics the plural anelli names the rings, recorded before 1908 in Edmondo De Amicis.[2] The zoological anellidi (annelids) date from 1875, and anellini, ring-shaped pasta, from 1965.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1178–1182 – The word appears in a Savona document.[8]
  • About 1200 – Piedmontese anel is recorded in the Sermoni subalpini.[4]
  • Early 13th century – Anellu appears in the Ritmo su Sant'Alessio.[2]
  • Late 13th century – Anello appears in the Novellino.[2][12]
  • 14th century – The word is used for any ring-shaped object.[2]
  • 1581 – Torquato Tasso uses it for a curl of hair.[2]
  • 1875 – Anellidi is recorded.[2]
  • Before 1908 – Edmondo De Amicis uses anelli for the gymnastic rings.[2]
  • 1965 – Anellini is recorded for a kind of pasta.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A ring worn on a finger, usually of precious metal and often set with stones, as an ornament, a sign of rank or a token of a bond; in particular the wedding ring: Porta al dito un anello con uno smeraldo.[12][13][14]
  2. Any ring-shaped object, element or structure, such as the rings of a curtain, the links of a chain, a ring road or the track of a stadium.[12][14][15]
  3. (chiefly in the plural) Small ring-shaped pasta for soup.[12]
  4. (anatomy) A round or oval natural opening, as in anello ombelicale.[12][14]
  5. (zoology) A body segment of the annelids, a metamere.[12][14]
  6. (botany) The layer of wood a tree adds each year; the membrane round the stem of some mushrooms, the annulus.[14][12][1]
  7. (chemistry) A closed chain of atoms.[12][14]
  8. (in the plural, gymnastics) The rings, two wooden rings hung from ropes.[12][14][1]
  9. (mathematics) An algebraic structure with two operations, addition and multiplication.[12][14][1]
  10. (figurative) In anello di congiunzione, a link between two series of facts or events.[16][12]

Word family

  • anellino
  • anelletto
  • anellide
  • inanellare
  • anellare

Usage notes

Besides the plural anelli Italian had the feminine plurals anella and anelle.[15][10] Dare or prendere l'anello meant to marry.[15][16] A Tuscan anello was also a tailor's thimble open at the top (14th century), and in the countryside round Lucca an anello was a measure of silkworm eggs, as much as a large tailor's thimble held.[11][17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1134
  5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ 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 d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 195
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  13. ^ 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 c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ a b c 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. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET