genero

Forms

genero m (plural generi)^[1] Forms in the old texts include Old Italian gennero, Old Italian gienero, Old Italian zenero and Old Italian cenero.^[2] DEI records Tuscan forms with genn- from the 14th century and a double -nn- in southern Italy.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gener (“son-in-law”), from the accusative generum.^[4][5][1] DELI and Zingarelli class it as a learned word,^[6][7] but Nocentini counts it among the Latin words found across Romance,^[4] and the DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance word for “son-in-law” from Sardinian, central and southern Italian, Spanish, Asturian and Galician-Portuguese.^[8] The same word is French gendre, Occitan gendre, Catalan gendre, Spanish yerno, Portuguese genro, Sardinian benneru, Romansh gender and Romanian ginere.^[4][9]

De Vaan derives gener from Proto-Italic *g(e)mro- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵ(e)m-ro- (“son-in-law”), with Ancient Greek γαμβρός (gambrós, “son-in-law”) and Albanian dhëndër as cognates; the ⟨-n-⟩ of Latin would come from ⟨*gemros⟩ through ⟨*genros⟩.^[10][1] Others link it to the family of genus (“birth, race”) and gignō (“to beget”), with an older, wider sense “relative”: Nocentini notes that most Indo-European languages had no special words for relatives by marriage.^[6][4][11] Devoto took it from the root meaning “to know”, so “acquaintance”.^[12] Isidore of Seville already explained gener as a man taken into a family to increase it.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in a Sienese document of 1235, already as the husband of one's daughter.^[6][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed the same since the first records.^[2] The GDLI also notes older uses for a daughter's fiancé and for a sister's husband.^[14] Giovanni Villani writes of Servius Tullius killed by Tarquinio Superbo ch'era suo genero (Tarquin the Proud, who was his son-in-law), and Boccaccio of a mother who received her daughter e 'l suo genero with great rejoicing.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1235 – Genero appears in a Sienese document.^[6][2]
• 14th century – Tuscan forms with genn- are recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. son-in-law: the husband of one's daughter, seen from her parents' side: Domenica viene a pranzo anche nostro genero.^[5][16][17]

Related words

• Latin gener
• French gendre
• Spanish yerno

Usage notes

The female counterpart is nuora, and the wife's parents are the suoceri.^[7] Genero is also the first person singular present of generare.^[18] Old texts also have a separate genero meaning genere, “kind”.^[15]

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. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1783
4. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 659
15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
18. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org