enorme

Forms

enorme m or f by sense (plural enormi)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian inorme, Old Italian innormo and Old Italian inormo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin ēnormis (“irregular; immense”), properly “out of the rule”, from norma (“carpenter's square; rule”) with the prefix ex- (“out of”).^[4][5][6][7] Devoto takes it from a Latin phrase meaning “out of the norm”.^[8] Abnorme has a similar formation.^[4] The noun enormità is a separate loan of ēnormitās.^[4][5]

French énorme, recorded in the 14th century, and Spanish enorme are the same learned word.^[9][5] Wiktionary mentions the proposal that the Latin word for a rule came, perhaps through Etruscan, from Ancient Greek γνώμων (gnṓmōn, “carpenter's square”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the statutes of a Sienese guild of 1309–1310, where the word means “contrary to the law, unlawful”.^[2] DELI's first record of the modern sense “extremely large, huge” is Giovanni Villani (before 1348).^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used enorme first of offences: unlawful, against divine or moral law, exceptionally grave or dangerous, and only then of size.^[2] The moral sense lives on in enormità “monstrous act” and in Devoto–Oli's sense “defamatory” (dire cose enormi).^[10][4] Zingarelli records an obsolete adverb enormemente “wickedly” beside the modern “hugely”.^[11]

Today the adjective means “far larger than normal”, also of non-physical things such as a success, a mistake or a sacrifice.^[6][10][12]

Timeline

• 1309–1310 – Sienese statutes use enorme “unlawful”.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “huge”.^[4]
• Before 1396 – Enormità appears in Giovanni dalle Celle.^[4]
• 16th century – Enormezza is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Much larger than normal; huge, enormous: Davanti alla casa c'è una quercia enorme.^[6][10][12]
2. (by extension) Very great in amount or degree: uno sforzo enorme, una quantità enorme di lavoro.^[6][10][11]
3. Defamatory, outrageous, of words: Ha detto cose enormi sul suo socio.^[10]

Word family

• enormemente
• enormezza

Related words

• enormità
• norma
• abnorme
• Latin enormis
• French énorme

Usage notes

Both an open and a closed o are heard: /eˈnɔr.me/ and /eˈnor.me/.^[1][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 482
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 163
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1483
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana