Etymologically
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direttore

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Pronunciation

  • /di.retˈto.re/[1]

Forms

direttore m (plural direttori, feminine direttrice)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin dīrēctor (“one who directs”),[2][3][4][5] from dīrēctus (“straight; directed”), the past participle of dīrigō (“to set in a straight line; to direct”).[5][6][1] DELI thinks it reached Italian, like direzione, probably through French directeur (end of the 15th century), and DEI and Gabrielli also give the French route.[2][7][8] Nocentini and GRADIT give the Late Latin word as the source and only compare the French one, with Spanish director.[3][4]

The inherited outcome of the Latin participle is diritto, which the LEI places beside Romanian drept, French droit and Spanish derecho.[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded once in the 14th century, in Rinaldeschi, and again in the 15th in Leon Battista Alberti, but it came into general use only in the 17th century: Carlo Dati used it before 1621, for someone who directs an enterprise.[2] In Guido Bentivoglio the direttore of a negotiation is the man in charge of it.[11]

Semantic evolution

The modern range of the word grew with the institutions it named: directors of manufactures, academies and public institutes in the 18th and 19th centuries, the director of a newspaper, of the police or of a hospital, and the spiritual direttore di coscienza, who need not be one's confessor.[11][12] The direttore d'orchestra replaced the older capo d'orchestra.[12]

Beccaria used the word as an adjective, “giving direction”, about 1771, and the feminine direttrice in 1787; in geometry direttrice is recorded from Maria Gaetana Agnesi in 1748.[2] In the French Revolution the direttori were the five members of the Directory, and in radio a direttore is an element that increases the gain of a television aerial in one direction (1966).[2][4][13]

Timeline

  • 14th century – An isolated record in Rinaldeschi.[2]
  • 15th century – Leon Battista Alberti uses the word.[2]
  • End of the 15th century – French directeur is recorded.[2]
  • Before 1621 – Carlo Dati uses direttore, which now enters general use.[2]
  • 1748 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi uses direttrice in geometry.[2]
  • About 1771 – Cesare Beccaria uses direttore as an adjective.[2]
  • 1966 – The sense “element of a television aerial” is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. director, manager: the person in charge of a company, institution, office or activity, such as a bank, a school or a museum: Vorrei parlare con il direttore dell'albergo.[4][5][14][15][1]
  2. The editor of a newspaper or magazine.[15][13][1]
  3. (music) A conductor, in direttore d'orchestra.[15][13][1]
  4. (history) One of the five members of the French Directory of 1795.[4][14][13]
  5. (electronics) A passive element that increases the gain of a television aerial in one direction.[4][14][13]

Adjective

  1. Directing, guiding, fundamental: un principio direttore.[4][14]
  2. (mathematics) Relating to the orientation of a directed line: coseni direttori.[4][13][8]

Word family

  • direttrice
  • condirettore
  • sottodirettore
  • direttorato

Usage notes

The feminine is direttrice.[1][14] Many compounds name particular posts: direttore artistico, direttore della fotografia (director of photography), direttore sportivo, direttore di gara (referee) and direttore spirituale.[15][13][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1318
  8. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  9. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 588
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli