Etymologically
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esterno

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Pronunciation

  • /esˈtɛr.no/[1]

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

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