cuore

Forms

cuore m (plural cuori, pejorative cuoràccio/coràccio, diminutive-endearing cuoricìno/coricìno, derogatory cuoriciàttolo/coriciàttolo or (uncommon) cuorùccio/corùccio)^[1] The old and poetic form is Old Italian core, shortened to Old Italian cor in verse.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *corem, inherited from Latin cor (“heart”).^[5][6][7][1] The Latin neuter took a final “-e” and became masculine in Vulgar Latin, as did the words for “bile” and “honey”.^[1][8] The stressed /ɔ/ of the Latin nominative became /wɔ/ by the regular Tuscan diphthongization in an open syllable.^[9] The word is found throughout the Romance languages except Romanian, which uses Romanian inimă, from the word for “soul”: French cœur, Occitan cor, Catalan cor and Sardinian coro;^[6][10][11] Spanish and Portuguese replaced the old simple noun with the derivatives Spanish corazón and Portuguese coração.^[6][10][11]

The Latin noun continues Proto-Italic *kord, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr, whose oblique stem *ḱr̥d- Latin generalized.^[12][1] It is the Indo-European name of the heart, found in almost every branch: Ancient Greek κῆρ (kêr) and καρδία (kardía), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐍉 (hairtō), German Herz, Lithuanian širdis, Russian сердце (sérdce) and English heart.^[6][12][1] In the Middle Ages the heart was also the seat of reason and memory, hence French par cœur “by heart”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the late 12th century;^[13][6] Nocentini dates the word to the second half of that century.^[13][6] DELI has core as the seat of feelings before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini, and for the organ before 1294 in Brunetto Latini.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The diphthongized cuore is first recorded for the seat of feelings in Dante (1293–1294), and for the organ in the 14th-century translation of Pietro Ispano.^[5] From the start the word named the centre of a place or thing (before 1292, Bono Giamboni), and later “courage” (1310–1312, Dino Compagni).^[5][13] The TLIO also records star names such as cuore del Leone and cuore dello Scorpione.^[13] The suit of hearts in French playing cards is recorded in 1534, in Aretino.^[5] Prati notes the heartwood of a tree, and the phrases crepacuore and a malincuore in Cavalca.^[8]

The number of phrases is very large: avere a cuore, amico del cuore, col cuore in mano, a cuore aperto (both frank and, in surgery, open-heart).^[7][3] Twentieth-century additions include the cuore artificiale (1984) and the cuore di bue tomato (1997).^[14]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses the word.^[13]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses core for the seat of feelings.^[5]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for the centre of something.^[5]
• 1293–1294 – Dante writes cuore.^[5]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for “courage”.^[5]
• 1534 – Aretino uses it for the suit of hearts.^[5]
• 1984 – Cuore artificiale appears in La Repubblica.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The heart, the muscular organ that pumps the blood: Il medico gli ha ascoltato il cuore.^[7][2][9]
2. The heart of a slaughtered animal as food.^[7][15]
3. The part of the chest where the heart is; breast: Teneva la lettera stretta al cuore.^[7][9][16]
4. A heart-shaped object; the stylized shape of a heart.^[7][9][16]
5. (card games, plural) Hearts, one of the four suits of French cards: il re di cuori.^[7][16]
6. (figurative) The seat of feelings and emotions; disposition, kindness: una persona di cuore.^[7][2][9]
7. Love, affection: affari di cuore.^[7][16]
8. Conscience, moral feeling; courage.^[7][16][5]
9. The centre, core of something: nel cuore della notte.^[9][5][1]

Word family

• cuoricino
• batticuore
• crepacuore
• rincuorare
• accorare
• accorato
• scorare
• cuoriforme

Related words

• coraggio
• corata
• coratella
• cardiaco
• cardio-
• cordiale
• ricordare
• Latin cor

Usage notes

Core survives in poetry and in popular and regional speech, and verse often shortens the word to cor.^[2][3][4] Sacro Cuore is the Sacred Heart of Jesus.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
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 g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 358
9. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1191
12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana