esterno

Forms

esterno (feminine esterna, masculine plural esterni, feminine plural esterne)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin externus (“outward, external; foreign”), from exter (“on the outside”) (also exterus).^[2][3][4][1] The adjective is formed from ex (“out of”) with the suffix -ter, which marks a contrast between two.^[2][5] Devoto compares the parallel sets internus and interior, and infernus and inferus.^[5] French externe (15th century) and Spanish externo are borrowed from Latin in the same way.^[3][6] Italian estero continues the shorter Latin adjective, and its comparative exterior gave esteriore.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Italian translations of Latin authors of the early 14th century: a version of Cicero for the adjective “that is outside something”,^[2] and the Florentine translation of Livy's third decade, where the TLIO finds the senses “lying outside” and “coming from outside”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the translation of Livy also used esterno as a noun for a foreigner, a sense that went out of use after the 18th century.^[2][8] The noun “outer side or part” is in Giordano Bruno (before 1600).^[2] The verb esternare, to express what one feels or thinks, appeared in 1780 as a lawyers' neologism.^[2]

The schools of the 19th century gave esterno the sense of a pupil who attends a boarding school without living there (Tommaseo, 1869), and later of an external candidate who sits an exam at a school he has not attended.^[2][4] Film made it the term for scenes shot outside the studio (esterni, 1914), and the theatre for a set showing an open place (1966).^[2] In sport an esterno result is one obtained away from home, and the word names a wide player.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Early 14th century – An Italian translation of Cicero uses esterno.^[2]
• 14th century – The translation of Livy uses esterno “foreigner”.^[2]
• Before 1600 – Giordano Bruno uses the noun for the outer side.^[2]
• 1780 – Esternare “to express” appears in legal language.^[2]
• 1869 – Tommaseo records esterno for a day pupil.^[2]
• 1914 – Esterni are recorded for outdoor film scenes.^[2]
• 1966 – Esterno is recorded as a theatre set of an open place.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. external, outer: that is or appears on the outside: La scala esterna porta al terrazzo.^[4][9][8]
2. Coming from outside: pressioni esterne.^[4][9]
3. Lying towards the outside of something, farther from the centre: il lato esterno del piede.^[4][9][10]
4. Not a permanent part of an organization: un consulente esterno.^[4][11]
5. (philosophy) Existing independently of the mind that knows it: il mondo esterno.^[4][9][10]
6. (geometry) Of an angle between one side of a polygon and the extension of the next.^[9][8]
7. (sport) Played or won on the opponent's ground, away: una vittoria esterna.^[9][8][1]
8. (archaic) Foreign.^[9][8]

Noun

1. The outside, the exterior: l'esterno della chiesa, all'esterno, outside.^[9][10][12]
2. A pupil who attends a boarding school without living there.^[8][4]
3. (cinema) In the plural, scenes shot outside the studio.^[8][10]
4. (sport) A player on the wing; in baseball, an outfielder.^[10][1]

Word family

• esternare
• esternazione
• esternamente
• esternato

Related words

• esteriore
• estero
• extra-
• fuori
• interno
• Latin externus

Usage notes

An obsolete homograph esterno “of yesterday” (15th century) is a learned borrowing of Latin hesternus, from heri “yesterday”;^[4][13] Bembo and Buonarroti the Younger used it.^[4][13] The phrase per uso esterno marks a medicine for application to the body, not to be swallowed.^[9][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1548
7. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 2, 588