erre

Forms

erre f (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

The letter name is inherited from Latin er (“the name of the letter R”).^[2][1] DELI and Nocentini treat it together with the other consonant names, under effe.^[3][4]

Nocentini traces the habit of naming consonants with a supporting vowel ⟨e⟩ back to Varro: the vowel followed a stop (⟨pe⟩, ⟨te⟩) and came before a continuant (⟨ef⟩, ⟨en⟩).^[4] Tuscan pronunciation, which avoids a consonant at the end of a word, then gave the continuant names a final vowel, as in elle, emme, enne and esse.^[4] DELI quotes Alfonso Traina's remark that little is known about the Italian letter names beyond their Tuscan pronunciation, and that late papyri from Egypt name the continuants with an ⟨i⟩ instead (⟨ille⟩, ⟨imme⟩).^[3]

The oldest record still has the Latin form, Old Italian er.^[3][5] The form with the final vowel is first found in Pulci, in 1484.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Francesco da Barberino's Documenti d'Amore of 1314, in the form er and the sense “the letter R”.^[5] The line, L’er be te son tre lettere (“er, be, te are three letters”), plays on the letters of a word.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had the phrase perdere l’erre, “to lose the R”, for losing one's wits so far that the mouth can no longer form the sound.^[5] From the 17th century it meant “to get drunk”, from the trouble drunkards have with this consonant.^[7][8] Tommaseo adds the figurative senses “to change one's ways, become confused” and, of someone who can no longer do what they once did well, “to have lost the knack”.^[8][9] A 15th-century phrase, mangiare per due erre, meant to eat in plenty.^[7]

Tommaseo compares the sound to a dog's snarl, hence the old name “dog letter” (lettera canina), and quotes Berni's dogs that “make the sound from which the R is learned” (far la voce onde l’erre s’impara).^[8] In the 20th century erre moscia or erre moscio and erre francese came into use for an R pronounced differently from the Italian alveolar trill, usually uvular.^[7][9] Devoto–Oli explains the uvular R not as a regular sound change but as an affectation that spread from court in the 17th century.^[10]

Timeline

• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino writes the name as er.^[5]
• 1400s – Mangiare per due erre “to eat in plenty” is recorded.^[7]
• 1484 – Pulci uses the form erre.^[3]
• 1600s – Perder l’erre is used for “to get drunk”.^[7]
• 1900s – Erre moscio and erre francese are recorded for a non-standard R.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The name of the letter R, r, and of the consonant sounds it stands for: In “carro” ci sono due erre.^{[2][10][9][1]}

Related words

• effe
• elle
• esse
• Latin er

Usage notes

The name is feminine or masculine, and invariable.^[3][9] Erre moscia (or erre moscio) is a general and often disparaging name for an R articulated differently from the standard alveolar one, usually at the back of the mouth, whether from a defect or in imitation of Parisian speech: parlare con l’erre moscia.^[9][11][10] Other set phrases are arrotare la erre and perdere l’erre.^[2][12]

GRADIT records a separate technical erre from the 14th century, of uncertain origin: a curved iron fitting by a well, on which the rope is wound.^[2] The GDLI, which also gives the form erro, derives it from the letter name because of its curved shape.^[6] Körting instead linked the erre of perder l’erre with Latin iter (“way, journey”).^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 264
7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1525
8. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh