emozione

Forms

emozione f (plural emozioni)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French émotion (1534).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DELI calls the French word a learned formation on Late Latin ēmōtiō, from ēmōtus, the past participle of ēmoveō (“to move out, remove; to shake”).^[2] Nocentini and Zingarelli instead derive it from émouvoir (“to move, stir”), from Vulgar Latin *exmovēre, a parallel form of the classical verb.^[2][3][6] GRADIT derives the Italian word directly from Late Latin and only compares the French.^[7] DEI notes that the Late Latin noun is found in glosses, and Tommaseo that a Greek–Latin glossary renders it as Ancient Greek ἀποκίνησις (apokínēsis, “moving away”).^[8][9] Devoto treats it as an action noun from the participle, like commōtiō from commōtus.^[10]

The Latin verb is made of ex- and moveō (“to move”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *m(i̯)euh₁- (“to move”).^[3][11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are emotione in Vittorio Siri (1644) and emozione in Giovan Battista Nani (1648), in the sense of a tumult or popular uprising, and in Lorenzo Magalotti (1676) for a physical upset.^[2][7] French had used the word for movement in 1538 and for popular unrest in the 17th century.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The word was long felt as French.^[9] Anton Maria Salvini wrote that Nani had taken it from French émotion rather than from the rare Latin emotio, and Tommaseo's dictionary still marks it as a useless Gallicism, proposing moto, commozione or turbamento instead.^[9] By the 18th century it was used for strong feeling, by Salvini, Pietro Verri and Alfieri.^[13]

Emozionale is in Pirandello (1893–1911), modelled on English emotional according to Nocentini, and emozionare and emozionante are recorded in 1897; in 1905 Panzini called them neologisms of plain French origin, from émotionner (1829).^[2][3] Today the word names both the psychological reaction and, in common use, excitement or a thrilling experience.^[7][4][6]

Timeline

• 1534 – French émotion is first recorded.^[2][7]
• 1644 – Vittorio Siri uses emotione.^[2][7]
• 1648 – Giovan Battista Nani uses emozione for a tumult.^[2]
• 1676 – Lorenzo Magalotti uses it for a physical upset.^[2]
• 1897 – Emozionare and emozionante are recorded.^[2][3]
• 1905 – Panzini calls emozionare a French neologism.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (psychology) An emotion: an intense affective reaction such as fear, joy or anger, with physical and behavioural changes: Fa fatica a esprimere le proprie emozioni.^[7][4][5]
2. A strong impression, excitement, being moved: Tremava per l'emozione.^[7][5][14]
3. A thrill, an exciting experience: Il volo in mongolfiera è stato un'emozione unica..^[4][6]

Word family

• emozionale
• emozionante
• emozionare
• emozionabile

Related words

• emotivo
• commozione
• muovere
• French émotion
• Latin emoveo

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1467
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana