Etymology and origin of the Italian word bellico
bellico1 of war
Etymology tree of bellico1
From the same root · bellico1
Pronunciation
- /ˈbɛl.li.ko/[1]
Forms
bellico (feminine bellica, masculine plural bellici, feminine plural belliche)[1]
Etymology
The word for “of war” is learned: it is borrowed from Latin bellicus (“of war, warlike”), from bellum (“war”).[2][3][4][1] DELI groups it with bellicōsus, the source of bellicoso, and with belligerō (“to wage war”), from which the learned belligerante and belligeranza come.[2]
bellicus is formed with the suffix -icus; its older form duellicus is still used by Plautus and Lucretius.[5][1] bellum itself continues archaic duellum, the source of duello.[3][1] The ancients connected that word with duo (“two”), which Devoto thought not unreasonable, though how it was formed is unclear.[6] Zingarelli calls its origin uncertain.[7]
The Latin adjective was borrowed in the same way as Catalan bèl·lic (16th century), Spanish bélico (1440) and Portuguese bélico (15th century).[8][3] The French word is instead belliqueux (“warlike”).[3] bellicismo and bellicista are not Italian formations but translate French bellicisme and belliciste, coined briefly in 1871 and taken up again in the First World War.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is in Jacopo della Lana's Bolognese commentary on Dante's Inferno, written between 1324 and 1328, with the sense “of war, warlike”; the TLIO also records the sense “won in war”.[9] DELI's first example is from Boccaccio, 1353.[2]
Semantic evolution
Boccaccio's Decameron tells of a man who became most expert and fierce nelle cose belliche, così marine come di terra (“in matters of war, by sea and by land”), and Tasso has trumpets sounding bellici carmi (“songs of war”).[10][11] In 1820 a dictionary of mythology records colonna bellica, the column before the temple of Bellona in ancient Rome.[8] In 1853 D'Ayala lists it as a synonym of marziale.[2]
The 20th century made it common, with compounds such as antibellico (1914–1915), antebellico (1918) and interbellico (1950), and with bellicismo “warmongering” (1916, Gramsci).[8][2] Panzini's dictionary of 1935 rejected the parallel bellicistico with scorn.[2] Non belligeranza is a calque of English non-belligerency (1940).[2] Today the adjective is the usual one in phrases such as industria bellica and residuati bellici, and in cinema it names the war-film genre.[12][13]
Timeline
- 1324–1328 – Jacopo della Lana uses bellico in his commentary on the Inferno.[9]
- 1353 – Boccaccio uses it in the Decameron.[2][10]
- 1820 – Colonna bellica is recorded in a dictionary of mythology.[8]
- 1853 – D'Ayala gives it as a synonym of marziale.[2]
- 1914–1915 – Antibellico is first recorded.[8]
- 1916 – Gramsci uses bellicismo.[2]
- 1918 – Antebellico is first recorded.[8]
- 1950 – Interbellico is first recorded.[8]
Meanings
Adjective
- Of or relating to war; martial, warlike: le spese belliche del paese, sforzo bellico (a nation's effort to increase its arms for a war).[4][12][14][13]
- (cinema) Of the war-film genre, with stories set in the Second World War or later wars.[12]
Word family
- antebellico
- postbellico
- prebellico
- antibellico
- interbellico
bellico2 navel
Etymology tree of bellico2
Pronunciation
- /belˈliko/[15]
Forms
bellico m (plural bellichi), also bellicolo[12][11] Earlier forms include Old Italian belico, bellicho, billico, bilico and vellico.[9]
Etymology
The word for the navel is inherited from Latin umbilīcus (“navel”), the popular outcome of the Latin word that was later borrowed in learned form as ombelico.[3][14][2] It lost its first vowel, which merged with the article, and doubled its /l/ for reasons that are not clear.[14] DEI notes that this ⟨ll⟩ type, Tuscan, southern and Sardinian, has not yet been explained satisfactorily.[16] Devoto saw in it a crossing with bello, as if the navel were a beauty spot.[6][12]
Latin also had a popular variant imbilīcus, which the Appendix Probi corrects, and both forms are widespread in Romance.[2][16][17] The word is pan-Romance: French nombril, Occitan embelic, Catalan melic, Spanish ombligo, Portuguese umbigo, Sardinian imbìligu and Romanian buric.[3] The Romanian and Catalan words lost the first syllable as the Italian one did.[16]
De Vaan traces umbilīcus through Proto-Italic *omb-elo- to Proto-Indo-European *h₃nbʰ-(e/o)l- (“navel”), whose descendants include Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós, “navel”), Old Irish imbliu (“navel”) and Old High German naba.[18]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo's treatise of 1282, in the Aretine form belico: a circular line divides the animal down the middle and passes through the middle of the navel.[9][19]
Semantic evolution
In Old Italian the word also meant the stump of the umbilical cord, the belly of a fish, the central point of a region or of the world, and the hollow where the stalk of some fruits is attached.[9][16] Francesco da Barberino gives advice on caring for a newborn's navel, and Marco Polo's translator and Boccaccio use it as a measure of the body, “down to the navel”.[19] The derivative belliconcio, the umbilical cord, is dated by GRADIT to the first half of the 13th century.[4]
DELI notes that this popular form found some literary use, from Restoro d'Arezzo to Pasolini.[2] Tommaseo records star col bellico all'aria, to lie flat on one's back.[10] The Tuscan plant name bellico di Venere, the navelwort, follows the botanical Latin umbilicus Veneris.[20] The verb sbellicarsi, to laugh uproariously, is recorded before 1712.[4] Today the word is popular or familiar, ombelico being the standard term.[12][13][19]
Timeline
- First half of the 13th century – Belliconcio “umbilical cord” is recorded.[4]
- 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo writes belico for the navel.[9]
- 1300s – The word is used for the centre of a thing and for the hollow left by a fruit's stalk.[16]
- Before 1712 – Sbellicarsi is first recorded.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- (colloquial) The navel, belly button; the same as ombelico: il neonato aveva ancora il bellico fasciato.[4][12][13][21]
- (botany) The small hollow on a fruit where the stalk was attached.[4][14][7][21]
Word family
- sbellicarsi
- belliconcio
Related words
- ombelico
- ombelicale
- bellicoso
- belligerante
- belligeranza
- bellicismo
- bellicista
- debellare
- duello
- Latin bellicus
- Latin umbilicus
Usage notes
The two words differ in stress: bèllico “of war” is stressed on the first syllable, bellìco “navel” on the second.[15][12][13]
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
- ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ 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. 5, 932
- ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
- ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
- ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
- ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
- ^ a b Canepari, Luciano, DiPI: Dizionario di pronuncia italiana, online ed., dipionline.it
- ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 479
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
- ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 480
- ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Bellico.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/bellico. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.
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