balio

Forms

balio m (plural bali)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian balia¹ (“wet nurse”), made masculine.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The feminine is from Latin baiula (“female carrier”), the feminine of baiulus (“porter, carrier”).^[2][7] Treccani and Wiktionary derive the masculine directly from the Latin masculine.^[8][1] Battisti and Alessio see the Latin feminine turned masculine under the influence of the Latin masculine, which in the Middle Ages meant only “tutor” (9th century, Chronicon Salernitanum).^[9]

The Latin words survive in Romance in two shortened forms, *bailus and, with metathesis, *balius, with their feminines.^[10] Nocentini traces Italian ⟨balia⟩ through the older Old Italian baila, still alive in the dialects.^[7] The northern feminine gave Friulian bàe “nurse” and French baille, and the uncontracted Latin forms continue only in Italy.^[10] Wiktionary names baglio and baiulo as doublets.^[1]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[11][1] De Vaan allows a preform ⟨*bagjelos⟩, with a stem perhaps related to Germanic ⟨*pak-⟩ “pack”, or a borrowing from Celtic, but thinks a PIE origin unlikely.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record of the masculine in the sense of one who brings up children is in the Ottimo commento to Dante, in the 14th century, which calls Chiron bálio d'Achille, Achilles's foster father.^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “husband of the wet nurse” appears in the 16th century.^[2][14] Aretino has the plural baili as a masculine of balia in 1546, and Bandello in 1554 writes that a man trovò la nutrice ed il balio che amaramente piangevano “found the nurse and her husband weeping bitterly”.^[2][5] Caro's translation of Longus calls Dryas balio della Cloe, Chloe's foster father.^[5]

The word was also used figuratively: the Deputati, in their notes on the Decameron, called Bembo buono e amorevole bálio di questa lingua “good and loving foster father of this language”.^[13] Antonio Pucci wrote the plural bali with one i for the rhyme.^[13]

Today the word is rare.^[3][14][6] It is used ironically or jokingly for a man who looks after small children, and balio asciutto for a boy acting as a babysitter.^[3][14][4]

Timeline

• 14th century – The Ottimo commento uses bálio for a foster father.^[2][13]
• 1539 – Zingarelli's first date for balio “husband of the wet nurse”.^[14]
• 1546 – Aretino writes the plural baili.^[2]
• 1554 – Bandello uses balio for the wet nurse's husband.^[2][5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The husband of a balia, the wet nurse.^{[3][15][8][1]}
2. (ironic, jocular) A man who looks after small children;^[3][14][4] balio asciutto, a boy who works as a babysitter.^[3][14][4]
3. (archaic) A tutor or precettore who brings up children.^{[3][15][8][1]}

Related words

• balia
• balivo
• bailo
• baglio
• baiulo
• Latin baiulus

Usage notes

The plural is bali, rarely balii.^[14][5]

A separate balio, stressed balìo by Zingarelli and Sabatini–Coletti, is a variant of balivo: a governor, ambassador or messenger.^{[3][14][4][8]} It is recorded from 1207–1208 in a Venetian treaty with Aleppo, and comes through baile or baillif from the administrative Latin of the Merovingians.^{[16][6][17][2]} Its Venetian form bailo was the title of the Venetian ambassador in Constantinople.^[18][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 415
10. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 456
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
17. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 103
18. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter