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genio

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Italian has two words spelled genio: the guardian spirit, natural talent and the gifted person, from Latin genius, and the military engineers, from French génie.[1][2][3] DELI and GRADIT number them 1 and 2.[1][3]

genio1 genius; guardian spirit

Pronunciation

  • /ˈd͡ʒɛ.njo/[4]

Forms

genio m (plural geni)[4]

Etymology

The spirit and the talent are a learned word, borrowed from Latin genius (“guardian deity; inclination”).[1][2][3][5][4] In Latin the word named the personal deity who accompanies each person from birth, and so a person's character and inclination.[1][2] It is related to genus (“birth, race”) and to gignō (“to beget”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).[2][3][6][4] French génie and Spanish genio are the same learned word.[2][7] Körting thought the meanings were influenced by ingenium (“talent, wit”), and the GDLI notes that the Late Latin word already competed with it in the sense “natural gift”.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Cecco d'Ascoli's Acerba (before 1327), for the deity who, the Romans believed, guarded each man through his life and shaped his character.[9] DELI's first record is a gloss of Luigi Pulci (before 1484): Genio: lo iddio che nasce insieme coll'uomo, “the god who is born together with man”.[1][8]

Semantic evolution

The word settled in Italian in the Renaissance, which widened its meanings: “natural talent or bent” (1525, Mario Equicola), “liking, taste” (1558, Annibal Caro), an abstract power that presides over the events of life (1533, Folengo), and “salient character” (before 1598, Paruta).[1][10] Andare a genio, to be to someone's liking, keeps the sense “taste”.[3][11]

French use then added “inborn intelligence”, as against learned skill (ingegno) and talent in one field.[1] In the 18th century genio came to mean an exceptional creative power and then the person who has it: DELI finds the person in Magalotti (1661) and the power in Salvini (1685), and Nocentini credits the modern sense to the French Enlightenment.[1][2] The purists objected, though Leopardi thought the complaints groundless.[1][8] The phrase genio della lingua translates French génie des langues.[1] The word also names a magic spirit, such as the one in Aladdin's lamp.[3][12] English borrowed genio itself in 1609 for the deity, a use now obsolete.[10]

Timeline

  • Before 1327 – Cecco d'Ascoli uses genio for the guardian deity.[9]
  • Before 1484 – Pulci glosses genio as the god born with each man.[1]
  • 1525 – Mario Equicola uses it for “natural bent, talent”.[1][10]
  • 1558 – Annibal Caro uses it for “liking, taste”.[1]
  • 1609 – English genio “guardian spirit” is recorded.[10]
  • 1661 – Magalotti uses genio for a gifted person.[1]
  • 1685 – Salvini uses it for supreme creative talent.[1]
  • 1908 – Genialoide is recorded.[1][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (mythology) In antiquity, the guardian spirit of a person, a people, a city or a place: il genio di Atene.[3][12][13]
  2. A power or person thought to influence someone's life: essere il buon genio di qualcuno, to be a good influence on someone.[3][12][13]
  3. A magic spirit, a genie: il genio uscito dalla lampada.[3][12][11]
  4. The distinctive character of a people or a language: il genio della lingua francese.[3][14]
  5. Aptitude, talent: Ha il genio degli affari.[3][12][14]
  6. Exceptional creative intelligence: un'invenzione di genio.[3][14][13]
  7. A person who has it, a genius; also as hyperbolic praise: Hai riparato tutto in dieci minuti, sei un genio![3][13][15]
  8. Liking, taste: Quel colore non è di mio genio.[3][12][14]

Word family

  • geniale
  • genialità
  • genialoide
  • congeniale
  • contraggenio
  • geniaccio
  • genietto

genio2 military engineers

Pronunciation

  • /ˈd͡ʒɛ.njo/[4]

Forms

genio m (plural geni)[4]

Etymology

The corps of engineers is borrowed from French génie, which took this sense in 1759.[1][2][3][5] The French word, the same as genio 1, first meant the art of attacking and defending fortresses under the influence of ingénieur (“engineer”), of which it looks like a shortening, and then the corps itself, military or civil.[1][2][12][14] Devoto lists the two words separately.[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is corpo del genio in the decrees of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany of 1768, and then the minutes of the provisional Municipality of Venice of 1798.[1][3]

Semantic evolution

Before the French word, Italian called these officers ingegneri (1752, Ingegneri di S.M.; 1775, Corpo reale degli ingegneri).[1] The soldier of the corps, the geniere, is a recent Italian formation (1936 in DEI, 1939 in DELI).[1][5][2] Beside the army's genio militare, the word names civil bodies too, such as the genio civile, which plans and supervises public works.[12][3]

Timeline

  • 1759 – French génie takes the military sense.[1][3]
  • 1768 – Corpo del genio in Tuscan decrees.[1][3]
  • 1798 – The word is used by the Municipality of Venice.[1]
  • 1936 – Geniere “soldier of the engineers” is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (military) Often with a capital letter, the corps of engineers, which plans and builds works of military engineering: un ufficiale del Genio.[3][12][14]
  2. A technical body in charge of public works: il genio civile.[12][3]

Word family

  • geniere

Usage notes

The plural of genio is geni, rarely genii.[13][4] Colpo di genio and lampo di genio mean a brilliant idea.[3][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1784
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 665
  9. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  10. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  16. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier