crescendo

Forms

crescendo m (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian crescere (“to grow”): its gerund, used as a noun, literally “growing”.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary takes it instead from the Latin gerund crēscendum of Latin crēscō (“to grow”).^[1] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *krē- (“to grow, increase”) and Proto-Indo-European *kreh₁- (“to become bigger, stronger”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DIFIT records crescendo as a musical direction, an adverb meaning “with a steady increase in loudness”, from 1671;^[7][2] DEI too dates it to the 17th century, though DELI notes that it gives no source.^[7][2] As a noun it appears in 1823–1828 in Filippo Pananti, in a list of musical terms: fu crescendo, con brio, forte, fortissimo.^[7][2][8]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, a steady increase of anything, is recorded before 1861 in Giovanni Rajberti.^[2] Tommaseo already gives it for noise and other things: un crescendo d'urli, d'applausi.^[9] GRADIT and Gabrielli record the phrase crescendo rossiniano.^[10][11]

The word passed into other languages as a musical term: French in 1775, English in 1776 and German in 1776 as an adverb and 1780 as a noun.^[7] English used it figuratively from 1785 and as a verb from 1900; in the United States it came to mean a climax.^[7][12]

Timeline

• 1671 – Crescendo is recorded as a musical direction.^[7]
• 1775 – French borrows crescendo.^[7]
• 1776 – English and German borrow it as a musical term.^[7][12]
• 1785 – English uses it figuratively.^[7][12]
• 1823–1828 – Filippo Pananti uses it as a noun.^[7][2]
• Before 1861 – Giovanni Rajberti uses it for a steady increase.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) A direction, written cresc. or with the sign <, to pass gradually from soft to loud; also a passage played so.^[10][4][5]
2. (figurative) A steady increase in strength or intensity: un crescendo di proteste.^[10][4][13]

Related words

• crescere
• diminuendo
• English crescendo

Usage notes

In crescendo means growing steadily.^[10] The opposite musical direction is diminuendo.^[5] The noun is invariable.^[1][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana