Etymologically
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geloso

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Pronunciation

  • /d͡ʒeˈlo.zo/, /d͡ʒeˈlo.so/[1]

Forms

geloso (feminine gelosa, masculine plural gelosi, feminine plural gelose, superlative gelosissimo)[1] Old Italian forms include zeloso, çeloso, celoso and giloso.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin zēlōsus (“full of zeal”), a word of the Church built on zēlus (“zeal, ardour; rivalry, jealousy”), which comes from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”).[3][4][1][5] DELI regards the Latin adjective as a late, learned adaptation of the biblical zēlōtēs and zēlotypus, though it is recorded from the 5th–6th century with the sense “full of zealous love”.[3] Nocentini starts from Vulgar Latin *zelōsus “envious, possessive”, which took the meaning of the Church word for a God who will not allow anything to be loved more than him.[6]

The same word is Old Occitan gelos, the source of French jaloux, and Catalan zelos, Spanish celoso and Portuguese zeloso.[6][7] DELI thinks the word left the language of the Church for worldly love perhaps in Provence, among the troubadours.[3] Devoto explains the initial ⟨g⟩ by a northern tradition with ⟨z⟩, wrongly made Tuscan by putting ⟨ge⟩ for ⟨ze⟩; the older Old Italian zeloso is the form Devoto–Oli start from.[8][9] The 18th-century scholar Salvini already found it curious that people derived gelosia from gelo “frost”, as if it were a chilly fear, when it plainly came from zelo.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, for one who feels jealousy in love, and the word was frequent in the same century.[3] His line runs: “Geloso son… ché teme no la perda per ventura” (“I am jealous… for one fears to lose it by chance”).[10] The TLIO's first record is Patecchio's Frotula (13th century, Cremona), where Salimbene quotes the line “Et homo k'è zeloso andar a ballo” with the old sense “eager”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for one who guards something with anxious care (Guittone, before 1294), for animals, and for God, who loves and wants to be loved exclusively.[3][2] Boccaccio describes a husband so jealous that he feared the very air.[11] The sense “envious, resentful of a rival's success” is recorded about 1579 in Tasso.[3]

The derived noun gelosia also came to mean a slatted window shutter, through which the women of the house could look out without being seen, a screen placed by a jealous husband or father.[6][3] Zelosie are recorded at Ferrara about 1470, and in 1494 Luca Pacioli named a method of multiplication per gelosia after the lattice it draws.[3][6] In sailors' language a geloso ship is one that heels over easily in wind or sea.[4][12] The word was borrowed into as Romanian gelos.[1]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses geloso and gelosia.[3]
  • 13th century – Patecchio of Cremona has zeloso “eager”.[3][2]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone uses it for “careful, watchful”.[3]
  • About 1470 – Zelosie “lattices” are recorded at Ferrara.[3]
  • 1494 – Pacioli describes multiplication per gelosia.[3]
  • About 1579 – Tasso uses it for “envious”.[3]
  • 1614 – A nautical use for an unsteady vessel is recorded.[12]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. jealous: suffering from jealousy towards a loved one; followed by di it names either the loved one or the rival: È geloso perfino dei colleghi della moglie.[4][9][5]
  2. Of a feeling, look or behaviour, showing jealousy: un'occhiata gelosa.[4][9][5]
  3. Envious, resentful of another's success: Era geloso dei voti del fratello.[4][9][13]
  4. Guarding something with great, often excessive care, followed by di: È geloso della sua collezione di dischi.[4][9][14]
  5. Of a thing, needing to be kept with great care or discretion: un segreto geloso.[4][5][15]
  6. (nautical) Of a ship, especially a sailing ship, that heels easily under wind or sea.[4]

Noun

  1. A jealous person: fare il geloso.[4][5][14]

Word family

  • gelosamente
  • gelosia
  • ingelosire

Usage notes

The TLIO also has a rare Old Italian geloso meaning “frozen”, formed from gelo, in Guinizzelli (before 1276).[2] Both /ʒeˈlo.zo/ with a voiced /z/ and /d͡ʒeˈlo.so/ with a voiceless /s/ are heard.[1][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 634
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1779
  13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli