angolo

Forms

angolo m (plural angoli)^[1] An older form is Old Italian angulo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin angulus (“angle, corner”).^[4][5][6][7] The LEI describes Old Italian anguolo and the modern word as continuing the Latin word with a learned or half-learned sound development.^[8]

The popular outcome of the syncopated form Late Latin anglus, found in the Appendix Probi, is Romanian unghi, French angle and Catalan angle; in Italy it survives only in a few words of Elba and Corsica.^[8][6][9] A derivative Vulgar Latin *angulō lives on in Sicily, southern Calabria, Corsica, Elba and Sardinia (Sardinian angrone), and perhaps in place names such as Agnone.^[8] Spanish ángulo, Portuguese ângulo and Romansh angul are learned, like the Italian word.^[8]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *ang(e)lo- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eng-(e)lo- (“corner”), with cognates in Armenian անկիւն (ankiwn, “corner”), Old Church Slavonic ѫгълъ (ǫgŭlŭ, “corner”) and Old High German anchal (“ankle”).^[10][1] The word is close in form and sense to the root of Latin uncus (“hook”) and of Ancient Greek ἀγκύλος (ankúlos, “curved”), but no regular rule connects them.^[10][5][4] Nocentini links the same base to Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura), the source of àncora “anchor”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Restoro d'Arezzo's treatise of 1282, in Aretine, in the geometrical and astronomical senses.^[2] DELI's first date for the geometrical sense is Giovanni Villani (before 1348), who says of a wall that it “makes an elbow, that is an angle”.^[4][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used angolo for the corner where two surfaces meet, for the cornerstone of a building, for the corner of the eye, and for a hidden or out-of-the-way place.^[2] The sense “secluded spot” is in Sannazaro (angulo, before 1530) and Tasso (angolo, 1581).^[4] The adjective angolare (before 1342) spread partly through the biblical pietra angolare “cornerstone”.^[4]

Geometry fixed many phrases: angolo ottuso from Firenzuola (1543), angolo misto from Viviani (1674), and angolo morto, the zone that guns cannot reach, from 1833.^[8] In football angolo and calcio d'angolo are calques of English corner.^[12][13] Later derivatives include angoloso “angular” (1581), in the figurative sense “prickly, difficult” from 1877, and angolazione, the angle from which a scene is filmed (1942).^[4]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses angolo in geometry and astronomy.^[2]
• Before 1342 – The adjective angolare is recorded.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses angolo for the corner of a wall.^[4][11]
• Before 1530 – Sannazaro uses angulo for a secluded place.^[4]
• 1543 – Angolo ottuso is recorded.^[8]
• 1833 – Angolo morto appears in a military dictionary.^[8]
• 1942 – Angolazione is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geometry) An angle, the part of a plane between two rays from the same point; its measure: un angolo di 45 gradi.^[7][12][13]
2. A corner of a sheet, a table or another surface between two edges.^[7][14]
3. The corner of a room or a building, inside or outside; a street corner: Ci vediamo al bar dell'angolo.^[7][12][13]
4. A sharp edge or projection: Ha sbattuto il ginocchio contro l'angolo del letto.^[7][12]
5. (figurative) A quiet, secluded place: un angolo di pace in mezzo alla città.^[7][13][15]
6. The outer end of the mouth or the eye.^[7][13]
7. (sport) Each corner of a football pitch or a boxing ring; a corner kick (calcio d'angolo).^[7][12][13]

Word family

• angolare
• angolazione
• angoloso
• angolosità
• angoliera
• angoloide
• angolino

Related words

• uncino
• Latin angulus
• French angle

Usage notes

In addresses angolo alone stands for “at the corner with”: via Verdi angolo via Rossi.^[16][14] Common phrases are angolo cottura, a corner of a room fitted as a kitchen, smussare gli angoli, to smooth over difficulties, and dietro l'angolo, of something that is about to happen.^[15][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 205
7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ 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, 1241
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b 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 Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli