avorio

Forms

avorio m (plural avori)^[1] Old Italian forms include avolio, avoro, ivorio and vivorio.^[2] Avolio was used by Tuscan writers of the 15th century and in Pisan and Corsican.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin eboreus (“of ivory”), an adjective formed from ebur (“ivory”) with the suffix -eus.^{[4][5][6][7][1]} Classical Latin used eburneus in the same sense, the source of the learned eburneo.^[5][4] The origin of the initial /a/ is not explained.^[4][8] Devoto supposed a crossing with lavoro, misdivided as ⟨l'avorio⟩, which DELI rejects as too contrived.^[9][4]

The standard form is semi-learned: the LEI separates the popular type Old Italian avoro, with ⟨-orius⟩ becoming ⟨-oro⟩ as in north-western Tuscany, Rome and southern Umbria, from the semi-learned Tuscan form that spread into Italian.^[10][3] The same word is French ivoire, Occitan ivori, Catalan bori and Romansh avori.^[5][10] Old Occitan had evori about 1120, and Catalan bori has lost the first syllable.^[10] In Spain the Latin word gave way to Spanish marfil, an Arabism.^[3][11]

Latin ebur is a loan from the east, like the material it names, probably from Egyptian 3bw (“elephant; elephant tusk”).^[5] DEI thought it came through Etruscan.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Fiore di rettorica, a Florentine text from before 1292, ascribed by DELI to Bono Giamboni, with the sense “ivory”, the bony substance of elephants' tusks used for precious objects.^[2][4] Medieval Latin avolium is recorded at Piacenza in 1266.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts the word served in comparisons for smoothness and whiteness, and also for moral purity.^[2] Petrarch builds a palace with “doors of ivory” (D'avorio usci), and Boccaccio's Decameron has an ivory comb.^[12][13] The popular avoro described a pale complexion before 1349 and the teeth in 1498.^[10]

In the plural avori are carved ivory objects.^[6][14] Modern Italian also uses the word for dentine, for an off-white colour and, in poetry, for the whiteness of skin.^[6][15][14] Fixed phrases include torre d'avorio “ivory tower”, nero d'avorio “ivory black” and avorio vegetale, the vegetable ivory of palm seeds used for buttons.^[6][15][14]

Timeline

• 1266 – Medieval Latin avolium is recorded at Piacenza.^[4]
• Before 1292 – Avorio appears in the Florentine Fiore di rettorica.^[2][4]
• 1336–1338 – Boccaccio uses avorio in the Filocolo.^[10]
• About 1350 – Pistoian avoro is recorded.^[10]
• About 1400 – Sercambi uses avolio.^[4]
• 1498 – Avoro is used for the teeth.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. ivory: the hard material of the tusks of elephants, hippopotamuses and walruses, used for carving and inlay.^[6][16][17]
2. An object carved in ivory, especially in the plural: una mostra di avori medievali.^[6][8][15]
3. (anatomy) Dentine.^[6][17][15]
4. The colour of ivory, a white tending to yellow.^[6][16][8]
5. (figurative, literary) Whiteness, especially of the skin: l'avorio del collo.^[15][18]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after the noun) Of the colour of ivory: una tovaglia avorio.^[6][16][17]

Word family

• avoriaceo
• avoriale
• avoriato
• avoriolina

Related words

• eburneo
• Latin ebur
• French ivoire

Usage notes

The plural is avori.^[1][14] Carta avorio is a card coated with glue and gypsum, and punto avorio a kind of lace.^[14]

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 d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 380
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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. 21, 6
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli