denaro

Forms

denaro m (plural denari)^[1] Older and dialect forms include danaio, denaio, dinaro and danaro, which is still in use beside denaro.^[2][3][1] Old texts also have dener, denar and many other spellings.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēnārius (“a coin worth ten asses”), short for a phrase meaning “coin of ten”, from dēnī (“ten each, ten at a time”), the distributive of decem (“ten”).^{[5][6][7][2][1]} Wiktionary takes it through a non-Tuscan dialect in which Latin /rj/ gave /r/.^[1] The same word is French denier, Occitan dinier, Catalan diner, Spanish dinero and Portuguese dinheiro, and it was borrowed into Celtic and, as Basque diru, into Basque.^[6][8][9]

The regular Tuscan outcome of the Latin ending was ⟨-aio⟩, as in old danaio and in salvadanaio, where it survives, while the Latin plural in ⟨-arii⟩ gave Tuscan ⟨-ari⟩.^[5][6] Because the word was used above all in the plural, DELI explains the singular in ⟨-aro⟩ as remade from the plural in ⟨-ari⟩, helped by the neighbouring dialects of Umbria and Lazio, where the suffix gives ⟨-aro⟩ anyway.^[5][10][9] Nocentini calls the present form the northern variant that replaced the Tuscan form.^[6] The form danaro shows the change of an unstressed ⟨e⟩ in the first syllable to ⟨a⟩.^[5][3]

The forms with ⟨i⟩ may come from Byzantine Greek δηνάριον (dinárion).^[8][11] Through Byzantine Greek the Latin word also became the name of the dinaro of the former Yugoslavia and of the Arab dinar.^[6][9] derrata goes back to the same word, through Old French denree.^[6][8][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a document from the Marche of 1193.^[4] DELI dates the coin sense in the form dinaro to 1219, in the Breve di Montieri, a Tuscan mining statute: “three dinari of bread, or bread worth three dinari”.^[5][13] The name stood first for the silver coin of Rome, worth ten asses, and then for the coins of medieval Europe.^[4][13]

Semantic evolution

Already in the 13th century the word was also used collectively for money and wealth: dinaro in Ruggerone da Palermo, danaro in Brunetto Latini before 1294, and denaro in Cecco Angiolieri before 1313.^[5] In Florence the denaro was the smallest coin, a twelfth of the soldo, and there were silver denari grossi and copper denari piccoli.^[13][14][4] Old Italian used it as a byword for something worthless, as in non valere un denaro (not to be worth a penny).^[4]

As a weight, the denaro was a twenty-fourth of an ounce (Redi uses danaio in this sense),^[11][7] and, from 1932 it is recorded as the unit of fineness of silk and other yarns.^[5] The plural denari names a suit of Italian playing cards, first in a document of the Este court in 1442 (dinari) and in Pietro Aretino in 1536.^[5] In finance the word means money available for short-term loans and, on the stock exchange, the bid price, the opposite of lettera.^[7][15]

The proverb il tempo è denaro translates English “time is money”.^[2][16] German borrowed the word as a historical term, Denaro (1571).^[14]

Timeline

• 1193 – A document from the Marche has the first record.^[4]
• 1219 – Dinaro appears in the Breve di Montieri.^[5]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses danaro for money in general.^[5]
• Before 1313 – Cecco Angiolieri uses the form denaro.^[5]
• 1442 – Dinari is recorded as a suit of playing cards.^[5]
• 1571 – German Denaro is first recorded.^[14]
• 1932 – The denaro is recorded as a measure of the fineness of yarn.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. money, taken collectively: coins and notes, or wealth in general: Non ho abbastanza denaro per comprare la macchina.^[7][2][3][1]
2. (history) The denarius, the silver coin of ancient Rome, worth ten asses; also the name of various coins of medieval Europe, such as the French denier.^{[7][3][16][1]}
3. (economics) Savings available for short-term loans: il costo del denaro.^[7][2][16]
4. (finance) On the stock exchange, the demand for shares or foreign currency, and the price a buyer is ready to pay for them.^[7][2][15]
5. (card games, plural) Coins, one of the four suits of Italian playing cards: Ho in mano il re di denari.^{[7][3][15][1]}
6. (textiles) A unit of the fineness of yarns, the denier.^[7][3][16]
7. (historical) An old unit of weight, a twenty-fourth of an ounce.^[7][11]

Word family

• danaroso
• salvadanaio
• denarino

Related words

• derrata
• dinaro
• Latin denarius
• Latin decem

Usage notes

Denaro and the more colloquial soldi mean the same.^[3][2] Set phrases include denaro contante (cash), denaro sporco (money from crime) and buttare il denaro (to waste money).^[7][2][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1246
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 368
12. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 1036
13. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana