Etymologically
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articolo

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Pronunciation

  • /arˈti.ko.lo/[1]

Forms

articolo m (plural articoli)[1] Old forms include Old Italian articulo, articlo and articol.[2]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin articulus (“small joint; division, point”).[3][4][5][6][1] The Latin word is a diminutive of artus (“joint, limb”), the source of arto; it already had the transferred senses “point, section” and, among the grammarians from Varro on, “grammatical article”, a calque of Ancient Greek ἄρθρον (árthron, “joint; article”).[4][7][8][1] French article and Spanish artículo were borrowed in the same way.[4]

Two modern senses came from other languages: “article in a newspaper” is probably a calque of English article (1712), and “item for sale” a calque of the French noun, recorded in that sense from 1597.[3][9][10] The phrase for a leading article follows French article de fond, which Prati traced to the leading article of the London Times.[3][11]

By popular descent the Latin word gave Old French arteil, modern French orteil (“toe”), Old Occitan artelh, Catalan artell, Spanish artejo and Portuguese artelho, and northern Italian dialect forms.[12] artiglio (“claw”) is the Italian doublet: DELI explains it through Occitan, while the LEI holds that it developed in Tuscany itself, drawn towards words in ⟨-iglio⟩.[3][12][1]

That noun is from Proto-Italic *artu- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥tús (“juncture, order”), related to Sanskrit ऋतु (ṛtú, “fixed time, order”) and Ancient Greek ἀρτύω (artúō, “to arrange”).[13][1] De Vaan suggests that the diminutive was coined as a singular because the base noun was used almost only in the plural.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Brunetto Latini's Rettorica (about 1260–1261); its first sense is anatomical, a joint of a limb, and, from early on the word also meant a single part of a law or agreement and a principle of a doctrine.[2] DELI dates articulo di fede “article of faith” to Iacopone da Todi, before 1306.[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a moment of time, as in nell'articolo della morte “at the point of death”, a phrase that survives as in articolo di morte.[2][10] The grammatical sense is recorded in Old Italian and then in Leon Battista Alberti's grammar, around 1438;[2][3][7] DEI notes that it arose almost at the same time in French and Italian.[2][3][7] The sense “section of a law or regulation” appears in Guicciardini, before 1540.[3]

Journalism gave the commonest modern sense: Goldoni uses articolo for a piece in a newspaper in 1763, and Collodi has articolo di fondo in 1881.[3] The commercial sense “item, kind of goods” is recorded in 1789; purists objected to it, Antonio Cesari in 1809 condemning the phrase articolo di lusso.[3] Jokingly, un bell'articolo is an odd character.[5][14] Zoology and botany use the word for a segment of an organ divided off by a joint.[5][15]

Timeline

  • About 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini's Rettorica has the word.[2]
  • Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi writes of an articulo di fede.[3]
  • About 1438 – Leon Battista Alberti uses it for the grammatical article.[3]
  • Before 1540 – Guicciardini uses it for a section of a law.[3]
  • 1763 – Goldoni uses it for a newspaper article.[3]
  • 1789 – It is recorded for an item of merchandise.[3]
  • 1845 – Articolista “writer of articles” is recorded.[3]
  • 1881 – Collodi uses articolo di fondo “leading article”.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (grammar) The article, definite or indefinite, that goes before a noun.[5][9][10][1]
  2. (law) One of the numbered sections of a law, regulation or contract, (accounting) an entry in a balance sheet or invoice: l'articolo 3 della Costituzione.[5][9][15][1]
  3. A principle of a doctrine: articolo di fede, also of any belief held without question.[5][9][14]
  4. A piece of writing in a newspaper or magazine: Ha scritto un articolo sul nuovo museo.[5][9][10][1]
  5. An entry in a dictionary or encyclopedia.[10][14]
  6. An item for sale, a product, (plural) goods: articoli da campeggio.[5][10][14][1]
  7. (jocular) An odd character: Tuo cugino è proprio un bell'articolo.[5][14][15]
  8. (zoology, botany) A segment of an organ separated by a joint or a constriction.[5][15]

Word family

  • articolare
  • articolato
  • articolazione
  • articolista
  • articolessa

Usage notes

In articolo di morte “at the point of death” keeps the old sense “moment”.[5][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 309
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 74
  12. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1485
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana