cervello

Forms

cervello m (plural cervelli m or (in certain fixed expressions) cervella f)^[1] Besides the masculine plural cervelli, the feminine plural cervella is used for the substance of the brain, especially of slaughtered animals and in set phrases.^[2][3][1] Old Italian forms include cerbello, cerebello, cerviello and the northern cervelo and cinivella.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cerebellum, a diminutive of cerebrum (“brain”).^[5][6][7][1] The diminutive was a cooking term, and in popular Latin, as in Petronius, it took the place of the base word.^[8][6] The feminine plural continues the Latin neuter plural cerebella, which became a feminine; the same happened in French cervelle.^[8][9][1] The vowel before the stress was lost, as is regular, and the Latin /b/ became /v/.^[10]

The same word is French cerveau, Occitan cervel, Catalan cervell, Friulian cervièl, Logudorese karveddu and Vegliote karviale.^[6][11][9] Italian also has the learned forms cerebro and cerebello, taken from Latin later.^[6][12][1]

Latin “cerebrum” goes back to Proto-Italic *kerasro- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-s-ro-, “the thing in the head”, built on the word for “head” found in Sanskrit शिरस् (śíras, “head”) and Ancient Greek κάρα (kára, “head”); κέρας (kéras, “horn”) and Old High German hirni (“brain”) belong to the same family.^[13][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Storie de Troia e de Roma, a Roman text of 1252–1258, where the word means the contents of the skull.^[4] DELI's first date for the brain is Bono Giamboni, before 1292, and Nocentini dates the word to 1288.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Italian the brain stood for the mind and its faculties, and was also eaten: the TLIO records it as food and as a name for the skull itself.^[4] Dante uses cervello for “judgement, wits” before 1321, and Savonarola, before 1498, for the person who directs an organization.^[5] Many phrases describe the wits: uscire di cervello “to go mad”, lambiccarsi il cervello “to rack one's brains”, cervello di gallina “bird brain”, recorded from 1956; the LEI has cervello di gatta for a foolish person in Machiavelli.^[9][2]

In the 20th century cervello elettronico was coined as a calque of English electronic brain (1945) for the computer.^[5][12] Fuga dei cervelli, the brain drain, uses the word for gifted scientists and scholars.^[9][2]

Timeline

• 1233 – Ceraveliera, a steel skullcap worn under the helmet, is recorded in the Matasalà diary.^[5]
• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma use the word.^[4]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses cervello for the brain.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for judgement and good sense.^[5]
• Before 1498 – Savonarola uses it for the mind behind an organization.^[5]
• 1574 – Cervelletto “cerebellum” is recorded in Giovanni Andrea Della Croce.^[5]
• Before 1729 – Cervellotico “odd, illogical” is in Anton Maria Salvini.^[5]
• After 1945 – Cervello elettronico is formed on English electronic brain.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The brain, the organ in the skull; strictly, the cerebrum, the two hemispheres.^{[7][14][2][1]}
2. The brains of a slaughtered animal as food, often in the plural cervella: cervella fritte.^[7][15]
3. (figurative) Intelligence, judgement, good sense: Usa un po' il cervello prima di parlare.^[7][12][2]
4. A way of thinking; a person seen as a mind: È un cervello bizzarro.^[7][16]
5. (figurative) The mastermind or leading mind of a group or organization; a highly gifted person: il cervello dell'operazione.^[7][12][2]
6. Cervello elettronico, an electronic computer.^[12][5]

Word family

• cervelletto
• cervellotico
• scervellarsi
• scervellato
• cervellone
• cervellino

Related words

• cerebrale
• cerebro
• cerebellare
• cerebello
• cervelliera
• French cerveau
• Latin cerebrum

Usage notes

The plural cervella is used for the brain matter, of people and animals (farsi saltare le cervella, to blow one's brains out), and cervelli in the figurative senses.^[2][3][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 874
9. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 1053
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET