bardo

Forms

bardo m (plural bardi)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin bardus (“singer of the praises of heroes”), taken up in the 18th century.^[2][3][4][1] DELI links its revival to the fashion for “bardic” poetry that followed Thomas Gray's ode The Bard (1753) and the poems of Ossian spread through Europe by James Macpherson.^[2] The Latin word is recorded from Lucan, and Paulus Festus already called it Gaulish.^[2][1][5][6] The same Celtic word is Irish bard and Welsh bardd “poet”.^[3]

The Latin noun comes from Proto-Celtic *bardos (“bard”), which Wiktionary derives from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerdʰh₁ós, built on the root *gʷerH- (“to praise”), the source also of Latin grātus.^[1] Nocentini credits Campanile with clarifying its Indo-European origin.^[3] Tacitus' barditus, used of the war song of the Germans, is better explained otherwise, DELI says.^[2] Devoto warns against confusing the noun with the Latin adjective of the same form meaning “stupid” (see Usage notes).^[7]

Tommaseo still derived it from a Germanic word for raising the voice or for song.^[8] The same Latin word gave French barde and Spanish bardo.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Melchiorre Cesarotti introduced the word in 1763, in his Italian version of Ossian, for the poet-seer of the Celtic peoples, who sang the deeds of their famous chiefs.^[2][6] In Cesarotti the bards keep the histories of their peoples and the examples of their heroes in their songs.^[5]

Semantic evolution

By 1800 Cesarotti also used bardo more broadly for a patriotic singer or poet.^[2][6] Vincenzo Monti's Il bardo della Selva Nera (1806) spread the word, and with it the adjective bardito “of a bard”.^[2][8] Bardico “bardic” followed before 1851, in Berchet.^[6]

In the 19th century Mickiewicz was called the bard of Poland, and bardo could also be ironic, for a poet who praised too many people.^[8] The politician and writer Felice Cavallotti was nicknamed il bardo della democrazia.^[9] Bardo was also used as an adjective meaning “poetic” (1966).^[2]

Timeline

• 1753 – Thomas Gray's ode The Bard starts the fashion for bardic poetry.^[2]
• 1763 – Melchiorre Cesarotti uses bardo for the Celtic poet-singer.^[2][6]
• 1800 – Cesarotti uses it for a patriotic poet.^[2]
• 1806 – Monti's Il bardo della Selva Nera has the adjective bardito.^[2]
• Before 1851 – Bardico appears in Berchet.^[6]
• 1966 – Bardo is recorded as an adjective meaning “poetic”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) A bard: a poet and singer of the ancient Celts, who praised the deeds of heroes and of his people: I bardi accompagnavano i loro canti con la crotta.^[4][10][9]
2. (by extension, elevated) A poet who celebrates the glories, hopes or traditions of a people or a cause: Lo chiamavano il bardo del Risorgimento.^[4][10][11]

Word family

• bardito
• bardico

Usage notes

GRADIT lists two minor homographs.^[4] A regional bardo (1955) is the alpine accentor (sordone), from Spanish “pardo” “dark grey”, from Latin “pardus” “leopard”.^[4] DEI and Cortelazzo–Marcato place it in Liguria, where bardo also means “grey” of the colour of a cat's or other animal's coat.^[12][13] An obsolete adjective bardo “stupid” (before 1600) is a 16th-century Latinism from Latin “bardus” “slow-witted”, which the ancients took from Greek “bradýs” “slow”;^[4][6] Giordano Bruno used it in 1585.^[4][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 70
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 1397
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 438
13. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET, p. 115