Etymologically
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don

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Pronunciation

Forms

don m (feminine donna or madama)[1] Old Italian also wrote dom and donn;[2][3][4] Tuscan doubles the ⟨n⟩ before a vowel, as in donn'Alessandro.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Italian donno (“lord, master”), shortened in front of a proper name.[5][6][7][8][1] The Old Italian word is inherited from Late Latin domnus, the syncopated form of Latin dominus (“master of a household, lord”).[9][10][11][1] Dante still has dom'no.[1] The same word is Old French dam, Occitan don, Catalan don, Spanish don and Spanish dueño, Portuguese dom and Portuguese dono, and Romanian domn; the DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance */ˈdɔmn-u/, continued in every branch except Dalmatian, Friulian, Ladin and Romansh, and dates it to the period before Sardinian split off.[11][12]

According to Leone's study, summarised in DELI, the title began in Christian Latin, where “dominus” was used in the sense “saint”, and the medieval type “domnus Cethegus” followed.[5] In early Italian it gave way to titles of feudal and French origin such as messere, sere and monsignore, and survived mainly among the clergy until the Spanish ceremonial fashion of the 16th and 17th centuries revived it, together with don.[5][11]

Latin dominus is derived from domus (“house”), from Proto-Italic *dom-o-no- “of the house”;[13][14][1] Pinault's reconstruction “one who profits from the house” is less certain.[13][14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian treaty with Aleppo of 1207–1208.[2] In Florentine texts of 1278–1279 it appears as dom, for example “a dom Francesco, monaco dell'ordine da Settimo” (“to Dom Francesco, monk of the order of Settimo”), and the form don is in Giovanni Villani (before 1348), who writes of Don Arrigo, second son of the king of Spain.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the clerical title was reserved for prelates, abbots and Benedictine monks; it was later extended to all secular clergy.[4][15] Among laymen it was the title of Spanish and Portuguese princes and grandees, and spread to the nobility of the Spanish-ruled parts of Italy; in the south it became a general mark of respect for any person of standing.[4][6][8] The TLIO also records it as the equivalent of donno “lord”.[2]

The Benedictine title French dom, was borrowed from Italian, and DEI dates French don, from Spanish, to the 16th century.[1][10] The names of literary characters gave nouns: donchisciotte “a quixotic dreamer” (18th century) and dongiovanni “a womaniser” (1880).[11] American English took don in 1952 as the title of a Mafia boss, from Italian and Spanish.[16]

Timeline

  • 1207–1208 – The Venetian treaty with Aleppo uses don.[2]
  • 1278–1279 – Florentine texts have dom before a monk's name.[5]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani writes don.[5]
  • 16th–17th centuries – Spanish fashion spreads the title in Italy.[5][11]
  • 18th century – Donchisciotte is recorded.[11]
  • 1880 – Dongiovanni is recorded.[11]
  • 1952 – English don is used of a Mafia boss.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A title of honour placed before the name or surname of a priest or of members of some religious orders: Domenica dirà la messa don Paolo.[9][6][8]
  2. (historical) A title of princes and nobles, especially Spanish and Portuguese ones.[9][6][7]
  3. (southern Italy) A title of respect placed before the first name of a person of standing.[9][6][17]

Word family

  • donchisciotte
  • dongiovanni

Usage notes

Don is invariable and is used without the article; the feminine is donna.[9][3][1] Before a consonant it may assimilate in speech, as in don Bosco /domˈbɔsko/.[18] A separate, imitative don renders the stroke of a bell or a clock, usually repeated (din don); DELI dates it to the end of the 13th century, in Folgore da San Gimignano.[5][2][9] An old poetic don “whence”, from Old French dont, is in Dante da Maiano.[10][15][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e 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 e f g h 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  8. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1380
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  13. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  14. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  17. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  18. ^ Canepari, Luciano, DiPI: Dizionario di pronuncia italiana, online ed., dipionline.it