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arabo

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word arabo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1282 Restoro d'Arezzo More words from the 13th century
Borrowed from
Latin Arabus
Ultimate origin
Arabic عَرَب

Pronunciation

Forms

arabo (feminine araba, masculine plural arabi, feminine plural arabe)[1] The oldest texts have Old Italian arab and the plural Old Italian arabe.[2] Dante stresses the plural Arábi in rhyme.[3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin Arăbus (“Arab”), from Ancient Greek Ἄραψ (Áraps), an ethnic name of Semitic origin: Arabic عَرَب (ʿarab, “Bedouin nomads”).[4][5][6][7][1] The Latin word already existed in classical times, as noun and adjective, beside Arabs.[8] Devoto–Oli derives the Italian word directly from the Arabic one.[9] The same Latin word is French arabe and Spanish árabe.[5] Spanish and Catalan also took the word with the Arabic article, as in Spanish alarbe (“uncouth person”), whence Neapolitan alarb.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo, 1282, with the sense “of Arabia”.[2][5][10] DELI and GRADIT give Dante (before 1321) as the first.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had the noun for an inhabitant of Arabia and for the language, and as a term of contempt for a rough person.[2] Boccaccio (c. 1336) uses arabo for something strange and unintelligible, the sense of the modern essere arabo (from 1865) and parlare arabo (from 1905).[8] Sicilian àrabbu likewise means “strange, obscure”.[8]

Florio (1611) has arabo for an Arab horse, and Metastasio (1731) the araba fenice, the unique phoenix, later anyone or anything that is talked about but never found.[8][3] Tommaseo–Bellini (1865) records the noun for the language and the numeri arabi.[8][3] The derivative arabesco, an adjective in Boccaccio (1353), became the noun for the ornament named after Arab art, which did not allow the human figure.[4]

Timeline

  • 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo has the first record.[2][5]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses arabo.[4][6]
  • c. 1336 – Boccaccio uses arabo for something incomprehensible.[8]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses the adjective arabesco.[4]
  • Before 1566 – Arabesco is used for the ornament, in Annibal Caro.[4]
  • 1611 – Florio records arabo for an Arab horse.[8]
  • 1731 – Metastasio uses araba fenice.[8]
  • 1797 – Arabismo is recorded by D'Alberti.[4]
  • 1905 – Panzini records parlare arabo “to speak unintelligibly”.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Arab, Arabian: of Arabia or of the Arab countries and peoples: la poesia araba classica.[6][9][11]
  2. Of a horse: of the Arab breed.[6][12]

Noun

  1. An Arab: a native or inhabitant of Arabia or of an Arabic-speaking country.[6][9][11]
  2. The Arabic language.[6][9][11]
  3. (figurative) Unintelligible language, gibberish: Queste istruzioni sono arabo per me.[6][9][1]
  4. An Arab horse.[6]

Word family

  • arabescare
  • arabesco
  • arabico
  • arabismo
  • rabesco
  • rabescare
  • arabeggiante
  • arabista
  • arabizzare
  • Arabia
  • filoarabo
  • panarabo
  • Latin Arabus

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include araba fenice, cifre arabe or numeri arabi, and pane arabo, a flat bread.[6][9][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 677
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Arabo.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/arabo. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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