Etymologically
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denaro

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Pronunciation

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

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