corona

Forms

corona f (plural corone)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian coronna, Old Italian curona, Old Italian coruna and Old Italian chorona.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin corōna (“garland, wreath”), which is from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē).^[3][4][5][1] The Greek word properly meant “crow”; the sense “curved object; crowning piece” arose by metaphor.^[4] Wiktionary glosses it as several kinds of sea bird, anything curved or hooked, and a kind of crown, and derives it from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).^[1] The derivatives coronare, coronamento and coronario came into Italian by the learned route.^[3]

The word is found in all the Romance languages, and the DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */koˈron-a/.^[6][4] The cognates include French couronne, Occitan corona, Catalan corona, Spanish corona, Portuguese coroa, Sardinian coròna and Romanian cunună.^[4][7] The Latin word passed into German Krone and English crown, and into Welsh coryn.^[4][8] Wiktionary sees cruna (“eye of a needle”) as coming from a derivative of the same Latin word.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the second half of the 12th century, which speaks of due corone de auro (two crowns of pure gold).^[2][9] DELI gives this text, at the start of the 13th century, for a circle of flowers or leaves worn on the head as a sign of joy or honour or as a prize.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Guittone used it for a crown of precious metal as the sign of sovereignty, and Brunetto Latini for a ruling house, both before 1294.^[3] Dante extended it to a circle of people, Machiavelli to the rosary, and Sannazaro to a wreath hung before buildings or monuments.^[3] Coins were called corone from the crown stamped on them;^[3][4][10] Aretino has the word in 1534, and it is still the name of the currencies of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and the Czech Republic.^[3][4][10]

D'Alberti recorded the crown of a tooth, the musical sign for a pause of free length, named from its shape, and the ring between two concentric circles in 1797.^[3] The musical term passed into French in 1703 and German in 1802.^[11] Varchi used the word for the halo round a star before 1565.^[3] Coronamento in the sense of “crowning achievement” is most likely a calque of French couronnement, made popular by a phrase of Napoleon III.^[3]

Timeline

• 1150–1200 – First record, in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.^[2]
• Before 1294 – “crown of sovereignty” in Guittone, “ruling house” in Brunetto Latini.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a circle of people.^[3]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it for the rosary.^[3]
• 1534 – Aretino uses it for a coin.^[3]
• Before 1565 – Varchi uses it for the halo of a star.^[3]
• 1703 – The musical sign is recorded in French.^[11]
• 1797 – D'Alberti records the tooth, music and geometry senses.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crown, a circlet of precious metal worn on the head as a sign of sovereignty or rank.^{[5][12][13][1]}
2. (figurative) Royal power;^[5][12][13] la Corona, the monarch or the monarchy as an institution: i beni della Corona.^[5][12][13]
3. (heraldry) A crown shown as a sign of noble rank.^[5][14]
4. A wreath or garland of flowers or leaves worn on the head;^{[5][12][13][1]} corona d'alloro, the laurel crown of poets and victors;^{[5][12][13][1]} (sports) a title.^{[5][12][13][1]}
5. A funeral or commemorative wreath: deporre una corona sulla tomba.^[5][10][13]
6. The ring of hair round a cleric's tonsure; the tonsure itself.^[5][12]
7. A ring of things or people: una corona di cipressi;^[5][10][1] fare corona, to gather round.^[5][10][1]
8. (religion) A rosary.^[5][14]
9. (dentistry) The crown of a tooth; an artificial crown.^[10][1]
10. (numismatics) Name of coins and of the currency of several European countries.^[10][1]
11. (music) A fermata, the sign that lengthens a note or rest at will.^[10][11]
12. (astronomy) The corona of the Sun or a star.^[1][14]
13. (geometry) corona circolare, the annulus between two concentric circles.^[3][5]

Word family

• coronare
• incoronare
• incoronazione
• coronamento
• coronale
• coronario
• coronaria
• coroncina

Related words

• cruna
• corolla
• cornice
• Latin corona
• Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē)
• French couronne

Usage notes

A corona di sonetti is a cycle of linked sonnets.^[15] In the South of Italy the word often means the pad of cloth worn on the head to carry loads.^[8] The form corona is also the third person singular present of coronare.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1118
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 796
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 333
16. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org