aprico

Forms

aprico (feminine aprica, masculine plural aprici, feminine plural apriche)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin aprīcus (“exposed to the sun”), a learned word.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The LEI lists it as learned in Italian and in Portuguese aprico (17th century).^[6] Popular forms survive only in Ligurian abrigu (“sunny”) of the old texts, Sardinian abrigu (“sheltered”) and Old Spanish abrigo.^[3][7] Körting traced Spanish abrigar (“to shelter”) and French abri (“shelter”) to the Latin verb aprīcō (“to set in the sun”), rejecting the Germanic source Diez had proposed.^[8]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[2][9] Nocentini thinks it most probably formed on ap, a variant of ab (“from”), referring to the side facing the sun, in perfect opposition to opācus (“shady”), formed on ob; the two prepositions go back to Proto-Indo-European *apo- and Proto-Indo-European *opi-.^[10] De Vaan also notes the opposition of the two adjectives, and gives Nussbaum's suggestion of a compound meaning roughly “open-looking”.^[11] Wiktionary and Devoto derive it instead from aperiō (“to open”).^[1][12] Isidore of Seville explained sunny places either as “without cold” or as lying under an open sky.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO and the LEI give the first record in the Tuscan translation of Palladius from the first half of the 14th century, about 1340: rue is sown ne' luoghi aprici, cioè in lieto ed aperto (“in sunny places, that is in a pleasant and open spot”).^[14][6][13] DELI dates it from Petrarch, who died in 1374.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch's line Valli chiuse, alti colli e piagge apriche (“closed valleys, high hills and sunny shores”) set the word in poetry, and Poliziano, Sannazaro and Tasso followed him.^[13][15] Leonardo glossed it as a place facing south.^[13]

From the 16th century it also meant “sun-loving”, of animals and later of the almond tree in Marino (1623), and Firenzuola and Machiavelli used it of mild air.^[6] The sense “clear, bright, serene”, of the air or a ray of light, is found in Machiavelli, and in Leopardi from 1822.^[6][4] The word is absent from the dialects and remains literary.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – The Tuscan translation of Palladius has the first record.^[14][6]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it in his poems.^[2][13]
• Before 1525 – Giovanni Rucellai uses it for “sun-loving”.^[6]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it for “clear, bright”.^[6]
• 1623 – Marino writes of the mandorlo aprico.^[6]
• 1822 – Leopardi uses it for bright air and light.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Exposed to the sun and the open air; sunny: un pendio aprico.^{[5][15][16][4][9][17][1]}
2. (literary) Clear, bright, serene.^{[5][15][4][16][1]}
3. (literary, rare) Loving the sun, seeking its light and warmth.^[18][1]

Related words

• apricare
• apricità
• opaco
• Latin aprīcus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 260
4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 360
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 38
13. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b 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
18. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)