compleanno

Forms

compleanno m (plural compleanni)^[1] Older forms are compleagnos and comple annos at Naples (1670–1671), compleagno and compleano in Gemelli Careri, and compleannos in Giusti.^[2][3] Belli and Roman dialect have comprianno.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish cumpleaños, a compound of cumplir (“to complete, fulfil”) and the plural of año (“year”).^[4][5][6] Wiktionary calls it a partial calque, adapted to anno and perhaps to compiere.^[1]

According to Zolli, the Spanish word was used here and there in Spanish-looking forms at the end of the 17th century, and stayed in that form in the dialects until the first half of the 19th century: the Milanese dictionary of Cherubini (1839) has compleannos, and the Parmesan dictionary of Malaspina (1856) has the same word.^[4][2] It entered the common language in the second half of the 19th century and displaced the older natalizio.^[4] DELI notes that a Spanish dictionary of 1726 still calls the word recent.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is compleagnos at Naples in 1670, in the sense “birthday”.^[4][2] The Italian form compleanno is in Neapolitan in 1783 and in the Tommaseo–Bellini dictionary in 1865.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo–Bellini defines the word as the day on which one was born and completes each year of life, and adds that dì natalizio is for great personages, while compleanno is enough for private families and friends.^[7] The purist Arlia condemned it as a Spanish word, a leftover from the time of Spanish rule.^[8]

Zingarelli dates compleanno to 1741.^[9] The literary synonyms are genetliaco and natalizio.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 1670 – Compleagnos is recorded at Naples.^[4]
• 1671 – Comple annos is recorded at Naples.^[2]
• 1783 – Cerlone uses compleanno in Neapolitan.^[2]
• 1839 – Cherubini's Milanese dictionary has compleannos.^[4]
• 1865 – Tommaseo–Bellini records compleanno.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Birthday, the anniversary of the day of one's birth: Per il suo compleanno le abbiamo regalato una bicicletta.^{[6][11][10][1]}

Related words

• anno
• compiere
• natalizio
• genetliaco
• Spanish cumpleaños

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1444
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 316
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 1
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier