edificio

Forms

edificio m (plural edifici)^[1] The variant edifizio is recorded from the late 14th century and is now disused or regional;^[2][3][4] Old Italian also had dificio and deficio.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin aedificium (“building”), from aedificō (“to build”) with the suffix -ium.^[5][6][7] The verb is formed aedēs (“house; temple”) and the stem of faciō (“to make”).^[8][9][10] The same Latin word gave French édifice, Catalan edifici, Spanish edificio and Portuguese edifício.^[2] The LEI classes the Italian forms as learned, and Prati notes that the word was not popular.^[2][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma of 1252–1258.^[3] DELI dates edificio “a building of stone or brick” to Bono Giamboni before 1292, and the figurative “organized structure” to Dante's Convivio, 1304–1308.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word widely for things put together: buildings and their parts, fortifications, siege engines (also the Trojan horse), tools and farm machines, even a trap for birds.^[3] The military sense “war machine” is shared with Old Occitan, where Bertran de Born has edefizi in the 12th century, and a craft sense “oil press” is found in Occitan too.^[2] In 1509 edifitio named a public clock.^[2] Isidore of Seville had observed that the ancients called every building aedes.^[12]

The modern language keeps the building and the figurative structure (l'edificio sociale), and adds a structure of arguments (l'edificio dell'accusa) and the physicists' edificio molecolare.^[6][9][13]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma has the first record.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses edificio for a building.^[5]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for an organized structure.^[5]
• Late 14th century – The variant edifizio appears in the Pecorone.^[2]
• 1509 – Edifitio names a monumental clock.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A building: a construction of masonry, concrete or other material, for dwelling or for a public or private use: un edificio scolastico, un edificio di dieci piani.^[6][9][14]
2. (figurative) A structure, an organized whole: l'edificio sociale.^[6][9][13]
3. (figurative) A structured body of arguments: L'avvocato ha smontato l'edificio dell'accusa.^[6][14][10]
4. (physics) Edificio molecolare: the arrangement of the atoms in a molecule.^[9][13][4]
5. (literary, rare) A machination.^[13]

Related words

• edificare
• edificazione
• edile
• Latin aedificium

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 964
3. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 399
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 40
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse