carnevale

Forms

carnevale m (plural carnevali)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Italian carnelevare, with the second ⟨r⟩ turned into ⟨l⟩ (giving *carnelevale) and one syllable then dropped.^[2][3][4][5] That word is formed from Italian carne (“meat”) + levare (“to take away”), “to remove meat”;^[3][6][7] GRADIT gives it as the Medieval Latin phrase meaning “to remove meat”, and the LEI cites Medieval Latin carnelevare at Subiaco in 965.^[8][9] Its parts are Latin carō (“flesh, meat”) and levō (“to lift, take away”).^[8][1]

The name first meant the farewell banquet to meat held on the evening before Ash Wednesday.^[2][5] Nocentini explains the paradox of naming a feast after the giving up of meat as an ellipsis: the day was first called “the day before carnival”, then “the day of carnival”, and at last simply “carnival”.^[3] As Merlo observed, the Romance names for the feast look forward to the privation of Lent rather than to the pleasures of the moment.^[2] Florence had Old Italian carnasciale instead, from a phrase with laxō (“to loosen, let go”), and the old dialects show both types, as in Old Italian carlevar of Venice and Old Italian carlassare of Vicenza.^[2][10][11] Wiktionary takes the Latin phrase for a calque of Ancient Greek ἀπόκρεως (apókreōs).^[1]

From Italy the word spread to other countries: French carnaval and Spanish carnaval take their form from it.^[3][12][13] Körting suggested instead Latin carrus (“cart”) nāvālis (“naval”), a ship on wheels in the carnival procession, reshaped in Italian by folk etymology;^[14] Tommaseo derived the word from carne with an adjectival ending, as in manovale.^[15] Neither view is followed by the modern dictionaries.^[2][3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form carnelvare in the Bolognese Parlamenti of Guido Faba, about 1243, where Lent greets Carnival not with a greeting but with lament: no salutemo te Carnelvare, lopo rapace, “we do not greet you, Carnival, ravening wolf”.^[2][10][16] The form carnevalo appears at the end of the 13th century in Matazone da Caligano, for the period before Lent.^[2][16]

Semantic evolution

The modern form carnevale is recorded about 1400 in Sercambi's Novelle, the Tuscan carnovale before 1484 in the Motti e facezie del Piovano Arlotto.^[2] At first the word named the last day or days before Lent; it widened to the whole season of feasts, dances and masquerades from Epiphany to Lent.^[16][15][3] Pietro Aretino used carnovale in 1526 for any time of revelry and pleasure, a sense Leopardi used with carnevale in 1827.^[2]

Milan's Ambrosian rite keeps a longer carnival, the carnevalone, which ends on the first Sunday of Lent.^[17][11] The proverb di carnevale ogni scherzo vale “at carnival every joke is fair” is in Tommaseo.^[15] Derivatives include carnevalesco (1618, as carnovalesco) and carnevalata (1886).^[2]

The word passed into French as carnaval (1268 at Liège, quarnivalle, carneval 1549), into English (1544) and into German as Karneval (1672).^[18]

Timeline

• 965 – Medieval Latin carnelevare is recorded at Subiaco.^[9]
• About 1243 – Guido Faba writes carnelvare.^[2][10]
• 1268 – French quarnivalle is recorded at Liège.^[18]
• 1286–1290 – Carnasciale appears in a Florentine document.^[10]
• Late 13th century – Matazone da Caligano uses carnevalo.^[2]
• About 1400 – Sercambi uses carnevale.^[2]
• Before 1484 – Carnovale appears in the Piovano Arlotto.^[2]
• 1526 – Pietro Aretino uses carnovale for a time of revelry.^[2]
• 1544 – English carnival is first recorded.^[18]
• 1618 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses carnovalesco.^[2]
• 1672 – German Karneval is first recorded.^[18]
• 1886 – Carnevalata appears in the fifth Crusca dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. carnival: the season between Epiphany and Lent, with jokes, parties and masked balls: Per carnevale si è vestito da pirata.^[8][5][1]
2. The festivities held in that season, especially in its last week: il carnevale di Putignano.^[8][5][4]
3. A puppet standing for the season, often burned on Shrove Tuesday (martedì grasso);^[8][6] bruciare il carnevale: to celebrate its end.^[8][6]
4. (by extension) A time of fun and carefree merrymaking;^[8][5][7] fare carnevale: to make merry.^[8][5][7]
5. (figurative, derogatory) A farce, a piece of buffoonery, a carnevalata: Quella riunione è stata un carnevale.^[8][5][6]

Word family

• carnevalata
• carnevalesco
• carnevalino
• carnevalone

Related words

• carne
• levare
• carnasciale
• French carnaval

Usage notes

The older form carnovale is archaic or Tuscan, and carnasciale is archaic.^[7][3][5] The proverb a carnevale ogni scherzo vale means that at carnival any prank is allowed.^[6][7] The carnevale ambrosiano of Milan lasts four days longer than the Roman one.^[8][17]

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 n o p q 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 12, 242
10. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
14. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
15. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
17. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
18. ^ 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