doloroso

Forms

doloroso (feminine dolorosa, masculine plural dolorosi, feminine plural dolorose, superlative dolorosissimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin dolōrōsus (“painful; sorrowful”), a learned word according to the GDLI, from Latin dolor (“pain”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[2][3][4][1] The TLIO derives it from dolore within Italian.^[5] The Latin noun is formed from doleō (“to hurt, grieve”).^[6][1]

The same Latin word is Aromanian dururos, French douloureux, Old Occitan doloros, Catalan dolorós and Spanish doloroso.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Libro of Uguccione da Lodi from Cremona, early in the 13th century, in the sense “showing sorrow in one's behaviour”.^[5] DELI's first date is before 1266, in Folco di Calabria, for “full of sorrow”, and before 1294 in Guittone for “causing pain”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used it for bodily and emotional suffering, for a person in pain or grief, for mourning, and for something hard or costly, such as a battle with heavy losses.^[5] Dante calls the damned le genti dolorose / c'hanno perduto il ben de l'intelletto (“the sorrowful peoples who have lost the good of the intellect”), and Hell il doloroso regno.^[10][11] In religious use the Virgin is the Madre dolorosa, and the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary are the misteri dolorosi.^[10][12]

In music doloroso marks a mournful passage: the term is recorded in 1706 and was taken into German (1802) and English (1806).^[13]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses doloroso.^[5]
• Before 1266 – Folco di Calabria uses it for “full of sorrow”.^[9]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “causing pain”.^[9]
• 1706 – It is recorded as a musical term.^[13]
• 1802 – German takes the musical term doloroso.^[13]
• 1806 – English takes the musical term doloroso.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. painful: causing physical pain: una caduta molto dolorosa.^[14][3][15]
2. distressing, causing grief or sorrow: Per lui fu doloroso lasciare la casa dei genitori.^[14][3][15]
3. Full of suffering; expressing pain: un'esistenza dolorosa.^[14][3][15]
4. (literary) Unfortunate, wretched.^[14][3][11]
5. (literary) Grieved, afflicted.^[14][3][15]
6. (obsolete) Wicked, villainous.^[14][11][16]

Word family

• dolorosamente
• dolorosetto

Related words

• dolore
• dolere
• Latin dolor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli