angelo

Forms

angelo m (plural angeli)^[1] The Tuscan form is angiolo, and the old popular form agnolo, which Tommaseo still heard in 19th-century Tuscany.^[2][3][4] Old northern forms include Venetian anzolo and ançolo and Milanese angin.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin angelus (“angel”), borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger, envoy”).^{[6][7][8][1][5]} The Greek translators of the Old Testament used “ángelos” to render the Hebrew word for a messenger of God, and, from Christian Greek the sense passed into Christian Latin.^[6][7][8]

Although it is a word of the Church, LEI notes that its sound development in Italian is the normal popular one.^[5] The same word is French ange, Occitan angel, Catalan àngel, Spanish ángel, Portuguese anjo, Sardinian ànghelu and Romanian înger.^[7][5][9]

The Greek word is probably a borrowing from an eastern language, like the Greek word for a mounted courier of the Persian king, the source of angheria.^[7][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Ritmo cassinese, of the late 12th or early 13th century, with the sense “a being between God and man”.^[6][5] The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, early in the 13th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini wrote angiolo before 1294, Jacopone agnelo before 1306, and agnolo is found in Federico Frezzi before 1416.^[6] Tommaseo noted in 1865 that Tuscans still said Agnolo and Michelagnolo, although the artist's name was usually written Michelangelo and its adjective michelangiolesco.^[6][4]

The figurative sense, a person of extraordinary virtue or beauty, is found as agnolo in Frezzi and as angelo in Paolo Segneri in 1679.^[6] In the poetry of the Dolce Stil Novo the beloved lady is a donna angelo.^[2][10] Old Italian also used the word for a French gold coin bearing an angel.^[10][8]

Angelico is recorded from before 1250, in Giacomo da Lentini.^[6] The plant angelica (before 1577) was named for its medicinal virtues, and angelus, the prayer that begins Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae, is recorded in 1863 and in 1875.^[6]

Timeline

• Late 12th or early 13th century – Angelo in the Ritmo cassinese.^[6][5]
• Before 1250 – Angelico in Giacomo da Lentini.^[6]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini writes angiolo.^[6]
• Before 1306 – Agnelo in Jacopone da Todi.^[6]
• Before 1416 – Agnolo in Federico Frezzi, also for a person of angelic virtue.^[6]
• Before 1577 – Angelica as the name of a plant, in Pietro Andrea Mattioli.^[6]
• 1679 – Angelo for a person of great virtue or beauty in Paolo Segneri.^[6]
• 1875 – Angelus for the prayer in Luigi Settembrini.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (religion) An angel: a purely spiritual being created by God, his messenger and minister to humankind, usually shown as a beautiful winged youth.^{[8][2][3][11]}
2. In the Old Testament, a superhuman being who acts as God's messenger.^[8]
3. (figurative) A person of great beauty, goodness or purity; also as a term of endearment: Grazie, sei un angelo!^{[8][2][3][12]}
4. (figure skating) A figure done on one leg, with the other stretched out behind in line with the body.^[8][3][12]
5. (historical) An old gold coin of France and England bearing the image of an angel.^[8][10]
6. (historical) A chain shot, two half cannonballs joined by a chain, used against the masts of sailing ships.^[8][3][11]

Word family

• angelico
• angelica
• angioletto
• angiolino

Related words

• arcangelo
• angelus
• angheria
• Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos)

Usage notes

Common phrases are angelo custode (guardian angel; jokingly, an escort or a police officer guarding a prisoner), angelo del focolare (the devoted housewife, now ironic), discutere sul sesso degli angeli (to argue about pointless questions) and lunedì dell'Angelo (Easter Monday).^{[2][12][11][13]} Angelo di mare is the angel shark.^[3][8] Angelo is also a man's name.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli