bilancia

Forms

bilancia f (plural bilance)^[1] Older forms include Old Italian bilanza, Old Italian billanza, Old Italian belancia, Old Italian belanza, Old Italian balanza and Old Italian bilanzia.^[2][3] Northern Italian dialects have forms such as balanza.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *bilancia, a form of Late Latin bilanx (“having two scale pans”), which is recorded from the 4th century.^[6][7][8][1] The Latin word is a compound of bi- (“two”) and lanx (“dish; scale pan”).^[6][7][1] The LEI finds this form as an inherited one only in Italo-Romance, with Friulian belànze.^[3] Western Romance continues a variant *balancia, with the pretonic vowel changed before ⟨l⟩, in French balance, Catalan balança, Spanish balanza and Portuguese balança.^[3][7] A further variant *bulancia lies behind some southern forms.^[3]

The prefix is from Latin bis (“twice”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“twice”).^[9][1] The origin of lanx is unclear.^[9][7] Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny connected it with Greek words for “crooked” and with Ancient Greek λέκος (lékos, “dish, pan”), but de Vaan thinks a Mediterranean loanword, as Ernout and Meillet proposed, more likely.^[9][1] Nocentini also sees it as a borrowing from an unknown source, and Devoto calls it probably Mediterranean.^[7][10]

DELI sees French influence in bilanciarsi (French se balancer) and bilanciere (French balancier), and English models, balance of trade and balance of payments, behind the economic terms.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Tuscan poems of Odo delle Colonne, from the first half of the 13th century, and DELI gives bilanza in Odo and bilancia in the Mare amoroso.^[2][6] The LEI also cites Ruggieri Apugliese from the same period.^[3] The sense is the weighing instrument with two equal arms and two pans, which compares the weights of the objects placed on them.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the scales were already the attribute of Justice and of those who judge, and figuratively the weighing of good and bad deeds in the afterlife, the Last Judgement, and also good sense and a person's condition.^[2] Iacopone da Todi (before 1306) and Dante (before 1321) use the word as the symbol of justice, and Dante calls the constellation Libra le Bilance.^[6] Phrases such as mettere nella bilancia, to weigh up carefully, and essere in bilancia, to be uncertain or in danger, are also old.^[2]

The sign of the zodiac is recorded in 1797, and the square fishing net, so called because it resembles the pan of a scale, in the Crusca dictionary of 1612.^[6] In economics, bilancia del commercio is recorded in 1766 (Prati) or 1797 (DELI), bilancia commerciale in 1798 and bilancia dei pagamenti in 1930.^[5][6] Modern technical uses include a mobile scaffold for painting façades, a batten of stage lights, a lift in mines, a safety valve on locomotive boilers and the balance of a pendulum clock.^[8][11]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – Odo delle Colonne writes bilanza.^[2][6]
• 13th century – Bilancia appears in the Mare amoroso.^[6]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses bilancia.^[3]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses the word as a symbol of justice.^[6]
• 1313–1319 – Dante calls the constellation Libra le Bilance.^[6]
• 1612 – The Crusca dictionary records the square fishing net.^[6]
• 1797 – The sign of the zodiac and bilancia del commercio are recorded.^[6]
• 1798 – Bilancia commerciale appears in the acts of the Cisalpine Republic.^[6]
• 1930 – Bilancia dei pagamenti is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A balance or pair of scales, an instrument for measuring the weight of a body.^[8][12][11] It is also the symbol of justice: Ha messo la farina sulla bilancia della cucina.^[8][12][11]
2. (economics) In bilancia commerciale, the balance of trade, and bilancia dei pagamenti, the balance of payments.^[13][1]
3. (astrology, usually capitalised) Libra, the seventh sign of the zodiac.^[8][11] Also a person born under that sign.^[8][11]
4. (fishing) A square net held open by two crossed curved rods and raised with a pole or a winch.^[8][11]
5. (building) A mobile scaffold, used especially for painting façades.^[8][11]
6. (theatre) A batten carrying lamps that light the stage from above.^[8][11]
7. (mining) A counterbalanced lift that lowers full trucks while raising empty ones.^[8][11]
8. (railways) A safety valve on the boiler of a steam locomotive.^[8][11]
9. The balance wheel of a pendulum clock.^[8][11]

Word family

• bilanciare
• bilancio
• bilanciere
• bilancino
• bilancella
• bilanciaio
• microbilancia

Related words

• bilico
• lance
• Latin bilanx
• French balance

Usage notes

Essere l'ago della bilancia is to hold the balance between opposing groups.^[14][15] Pesare con la bilancia dell'orafo (or del farmacista) is to judge something with minute care.^[12][15] The constellation is also called Libra.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 5, 1551
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 144
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 62
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli