camerlengo

Forms

camerlengo m (plural camerlenghi)^[1] Older forms are Old Italian camarlengo, Old Italian camarlingo and Old Italian camorlengo in Iacopone.^[2][3] Camerlingo and camarlingo are still given as variants.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *kamarling (“chamberlain”), a title for the officer of the king's chamber, and Medieval Latin had camarlingus.^[6][4][5][1] DELI and GRADIT write the source simply as Germanic, and GDLI as Old High German chamarling.^[2][7][8][9] The Germanic word is formed from *kamer, an early loan of Latin camera (“room, chamber”), with the suffix -ling.^[6][2] Latin camera is from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “vaulted room”).^[10][1]

The same title gave Old French chambrelenc, later French chambellan, Occitan camarlenc, Catalan camarleng, and Spanish camarlengo and Portuguese camarlengo, which come from the Catalan.^[6] The French word was borrowed back as Italian ciambellano, a doublet of this word.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Breve di Montieri of 1219, which has both camarlengo and camarlingo for the officer who received the community's money.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval communes the camarlingo was the treasurer: a Florentine chronicle records that monks of the abbey of Settimo were made camarlinghi of the commune's money.^[8][2] Monasteries, confraternities and companies had their own, and the TLIO also has the title of an elector of the Holy Roman Empire and the papal minister of finance.^[2][3] The form camerlengo is in Giovanni Villani, before 1348.^[2]

The secular office disappeared, and the word is now used mostly for the cardinal who heads the Apostolic Camera and who, on a pope's death, governs the Holy See until a successor is elected.^[2][11][5] French borrowed it as camerlingue (1418), English as camerlingo (1625), and German as Camerlengo (1728).^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1219 – Camarlengo and camarlingo appear in the Breve di Montieri.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses camorlengo.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses camerlengo.^[2]
• 1418 – French camerlin is first recorded.^[12]
• 1625 – English camarlingo is first recorded.^[12]
• 1728 – German Camerlengo is first recorded.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) In the Middle Ages, the treasurer who kept and administered the money of a commune, a ruler or an institution, especially a religious one.^{[7][4][14][5]}
2. (Catholicism) The cardinal who heads the Apostolic Camera and governs the Holy See between a pope's death and the election of the next: il cardinale camerlengo, camerlengo di Santa Romana Chiesa.^{[4][11][14][7]}
3. (Catholicism) camerlengo del Sacro Collegio: the cardinal who administers the property of the College of Cardinals and draws up the consistorial acts.^[5][15][7]

Word family

• camerlengato
• camerlenga

Related words

• camera
• ciambellano
• Frankish *kamarling
• English chamberlain

Usage notes

The stress is camerléngo, with a close or an open e.^[11][14] English uses both camerlengo and camerlingo.^[13]

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 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
10. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 21
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli