dicembre

Forms

dicembre m (uncountable)^[1] The literary variant is Old Italian decembre, used from the 15th century to D'Annunzio.^[2][3] Old northern forms include Old Italian desembre in Bonvesin's Milanese, Old Italian dessenbre at Mantua and Bologna and Old Italian dicember at Venice.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin dicember, the Late Latin form of Latin december, with the noun mensis (“month”) understood.^[4][5][2] The name comes from decem (“ten”), because in the old Roman calendar, which began the year in March, it was the tenth month.^[4][6][7][8] Nocentini explains the suffix as probably from a form *decem-sris, with the regular change of -sr- to -br-, and notes that the names of the months from September to December keep their link with the numerals.^[6]

The word is inherited across most of Romance: Occitan dezembre, Catalan desembre, Spanish diciembre and Portuguese dezembro.^[6][2] Romanian does not continue it, and French décembre (1250) is a learned form.^[9][6]

The /i/ of the first syllable is the Italian raising of /e/ before the stress, already found in Late Latin, as Väänänen notes.^[4][10] The variant decembrio goes back instead to a Latin decembrius, formed on the model of ianuarius and februarius.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is deciembre in a Florentine bankers' account book of 1211, and dicembre appears early in the 13th century in the Matasala accounts, both as the twelfth month of the civil year.^[4][11] The TLIO defines the Old Italian word as the month of the winter solstice, the tenth in the Roman calendar and the last in the year styles counted from Christmas or the Circumcision.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The sense has not changed since the first records; the dictionaries note only that the month was the tenth in the Roman calendar and became the twelfth in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, which begin with January.^[12][13] The Old Italian texts show many local forms, from deçembre and dexembre to Sicilian dechembru.^[11]

Literary Italian kept decembre beside dicembre until the 20th century, and Bembo used the Latinising form.^[2][2][14] The adjective dicembrino “of December” is recorded only in the 20th century, first as decembrino (1901).^[4][6] In the political vocabulary of the 19th century, decembrista “Decembrist” followed French décembriste.^[2]

Timeline

• 1211 – Deciembre appears in a Florentine bankers' account book.^[4][11]
• Early 13th century – Dicembre is recorded in the Matasala accounts.^[4]
• 1235 – Dicembre and diciembre appear in documents from Prato.^[2]
• Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva writes the Milanese form desembre.^[2]
• 1366 – Venetian dicember is recorded.^[2]
• 1901 – Decembrino is recorded at Vasto.^[4]
• 1957 – Elsa Morante uses dicembrino.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. December, the twelfth and last month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, with 31 days; the tenth month of the old Roman calendar.^[5][7][15]

Word family

• dicembrino

Related words

• decembrista
• dieci
• Latin december
• French décembre

Usage notes

Dicembre is usually singular;^[15][5] Sabatini–Coletti gives the rare plural as invariable.^[15][5] Dates are written il primo dicembre or il primo di dicembre.^[15] The literary form decembre is less common.^[7][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 519
3. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1288
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 349
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 375
15. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse