chierico

Forms

chierico m (plural chierici, feminine chierica)^[1] Older forms include Old Italian cherico, Old Italian chierco and Old Italian cherco.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin clēricus (“cleric”), a Church Latin word borrowed from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós, “of the clergy”), from κλῆρος (klêros, “lot; the clergy”).^[2][5][6][1] The Greek noun first meant a lot or a share of an inheritance, and the Church applied it to the part of the faithful chosen for God's service.^[7][1]

The LEI notes that the Italian forms are not fully popular: northern forms sometimes keep the /k/ of the Latin unvoiced, and southern ones lack the metaphonic closing of the stressed vowel.^[8] Salvioni explained the type cherico by dissimilation from an earlier Old Italian *crerico.^[8]

The Latin word also survives in French clerc, Old Occitan clerc and Friulian clèrìc, while Spanish clérigo and Portuguese clérigo are learned or half-learned.^[8][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Corsican document of the 12th century, and Nocentini also dates the word to the 12th century.^[3][5] In the TLIO's first sense it is a member of the church hierarchy who has received at least minor orders and the tonsure.^[3] DELI's earliest literary records are cherico in Ugieri Apugliese in the first half of the 13th century and chierco in Guittone d'Arezzo.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for a learned man, as early as Rugieri d'Amici at the beginning of the 13th century.^[2] Dante has both senses: in the Inferno a sinner is so smeared that one cannot tell s'era laico o cherco “whether he was a layman or a cleric”, and of other sinners he says tutti fur cherci / e litterati grandi “all were clerics and great men of letters”.^[4][10] The word also named a servant or secretary of an official or a great man.^[3]

The boy who serves at Mass is a cherico in Boccaccio in 1353, and a young man preparing for the priesthood in Franco Sacchetti before 1400.^[2] The spelling chierico appears in Ariosto's Orlando furioso of 1516;^[2][11] Tommaseo still found cherico the commoner Tuscan form.^[2][11] The sense “intellectual” was revived by Francesco De Sanctis in 1870–72 and spread in the 20th century under the influence of French clerc.^[2][12][7]

Timeline

• 1100s – A Corsican document has the word.^[3]
• First half of the 1200s – Ugieri Apugliese writes cherico.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo writes chierco.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses cherico for the server at Mass, and chericetto.^[2]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses cherico for a seminarian.^[2]
• 1516 – The spelling chierico appears in Ariosto's Orlando furioso.^[2]
• 1870–1872 – Francesco De Sanctis uses chierico for a learned man.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cleric: a member of the clergy.^{[6][7][12][1]}
2. A seminarian, a young man studying for the priesthood.^[6][7][1]
3. An altar server, who assists the priest at Mass and other services.^[6][12][13]
4. (historical) In the Middle Ages, a man who took orders to devote himself to study, teaching at a university or service at a court.^[6][7]
5. (literary) A learned man, a scholar; an intellectual.^[6][10][12]

Word family

• chierica
• chiericato
• chierichetto
• chiericia

Related words

• clero
• French clerc
• Latin clericus

Usage notes

Chierici vaganti were medieval clerics without a fixed diocese who served in different places, and also students who moved between universities.^[14][10] Chierici regolari are religious who live under a rule without being monks or mendicant friars.^[12][13] The phrase il tradimento dei chierici uses the sense “intellectual”.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 23
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier