anziano

Forms

anziano (feminine anziana, masculine plural anziani, feminine plural anziane, superlative anzianissimo)^[1] Old Italian forms include antiano and northern ançiano and ansiano.^[2][1] Dialect forms include Piedmontese ansian and Romagnol inziân.^[3]

Etymology

DELI, GRADIT and Zingarelli derive it inherited from Vulgar Latin *antiānus (“former, of an earlier time”), Nocentini and Wiktionary from a form *anteānus, built on Latin ante (“before”) or antea (“formerly”).^{[4][5][6][7][1][8]} The word is shared with French ancien, Occitan ancian, Spanish anciano and Portuguese ancião.^[5][9][10]

Others treat it as a semi-learned word.^[10][11] DEI and the GDLI take it from Medieval Latin antianus, and the LEI and the TLIO list it under the learned forms.^{[10][11][3][2]} Treccani thinks it probably came through the French word, and Prati wavered between French and a student-Latin coinage.^[12][13] Körting argued that the French word, with three syllables in Old French, must have been formed there, and the Italian one too.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Proverbia que dicuntur super natura feminarum, a Venetian poem of the last quarter of the 12th century, for an elderly person.^[2] DELI's earliest dated sense is the medieval magistrate: Brunetto Latini (before 1294) uses the word for a member of the highest council of a commune.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian anziano also meant “ancient” and “ancestor”: Bono Giamboni uses it for the ancients before 1292.^[2][3] In the communes of the 13th and 14th centuries the Anziani were a ruling magistracy;^[14][10] Giovanni Villani tells how Florence created twelve anziani of the people, and Dante meets in the Inferno one of the elders of Santa Zita, that is, of Lucca.^[14][10] Boccaccio (1336) has the sense “elderly”, which became the main one.^[4][3]

Tommaseo records the sense “senior in an office”, which now gives assessore anziano, the councillor who acts as deputy mayor.^[14][12] Today anziano is often a polite substitute for vecchio.^[8][12][7] Newer uses include a pensioner of a large company, a university student beyond the second year, and a conscript near the end of service;^[6][15] Presbyterian churches have their elders.^[6][15]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Proverbia que dicuntur use anziano for an elderly person.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “ancient”.^[3]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for a member of a communal magistracy.^[4]
• 1336 – Boccaccio uses it in the sense “elderly”.^[4]
• 1567 – Anzianità “seniority” is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. elderly, getting on in years; also older than someone else: Mio zio è ormai piuttosto anziano.^[6][8][7]
2. senior: having held an office or rank longer than others: il giudice più anziano del collegio.^[6][8][7]

Noun

1. An elderly person: un circolo ricreativo per anziani.^[6][8][16]
2. A person with long service in a firm or office; also a retired employee of a large company.^[6][16][17]
3. (slang) A university student in the third year or later, as against a freshman; in the army, a conscript near the end of service.^[6][16][12]
4. (history) A member of the ruling council of a medieval commune.^[6][16][7]
5. An elder of a Presbyterian church.^[6]

Word family

• anzianità
• anzianotto

Related words

• anzi
• Latin ante
• French ancien

Usage notes

Zingarelli distinguishes maturo, no longer young, from anziano, of advanced age, and vecchio, very old;^[7] anziano and maturo are often used as gentler words for vecchio.^[7] A rare literary anziano (1860) means “of Anzio”, like anziate.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1652
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 236
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
14. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2009
16. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli