gentilezza

Forms

gentilezza f (plural gentilezze)^[1] Old Italian also had genteleza, gentileça, gentilessa, gentilisia and northern forms in ç- such as çentileça.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian gentile + -ezza, from the adjective in its sense of noble or courteous.^[3][4][5][1] The adjective is from Latin gentīlis (“belonging to the same family or clan”), from gēns (“family, clan”).^[3][4]

Körting placed the Italian noun under Vulgar Latin *gentilitia, beside Old French gentelise and French gentillesse.^[6] The Old Italian forms gentilicia and gentiligia, recorded beside the usual form, show the same ending.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Parlamenti of Guido Faba, a Bolognese text of about 1243, and DELI's is in Giacomo da Lentini, who died before 1250, with the sense “the quality of being noble”.^[2][3] In the oldest texts the word means the worth proper to a person of high rank, and also high birth itself.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th and 14th centuries gentilezza stood between birth and virtue: Brunetto Latini mocks those who call themselves noble and hold everyone else as base, and Dante's Convivio argues against the view that wealth is the source of nobility (di gentilezza / sia principio ricchezza).^[7] Dante equates the word with nobilitade, and the poets of the dolce stil novo made it a nobility gained by virtue rather than by blood.^[3][8] Francesco da Barberino distinguished a nobility of the soul from one of lineage.^[7]

From the 13th century the word also named a kind act, and usare la gentilezza “to do the favour” and per gentilezza “please” are recorded from about 1400 and 1484.^[3] In modern Italian the sense of nobility is obsolete, and the word means kindness and courtesy, or a kind act, often used ironically.^[5][8][9] German borrowed it as Gentilezza in 1645.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1243 – Guido Faba's Parlamenti has the first record.^[2]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses gentilezza for the quality of being noble.^[3]
• 13th century – The sense “kind act” appears in the chronicle of Malispini.^[3]
• Before 1303 – Onesto da Bologna uses the word for nobility.^[3]
• 1304–1308 – Dante's Convivio discusses gentilezza as nobility.^[3][7]
• Before 1400 – Sacchetti has usare la gentilezza, to do a favour.^[3]
• Before 1484 – Pulci has per gentilezza, please.^[3]
• 1645 – German Gentilezza is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. kindness, courtesy: the quality of being kind and polite to others: Ci ha accolti con grande gentilezza.^[5][11][12]
2. A kind act or word, a favour; also ironic: Mi ha fatto la gentilezza di accompagnarmi.^[5][11][8]
3. delicacy, grace of feeling, manner or appearance.^[11][13][1]
4. (obsolete) Nobility of birth or of spirit.^[5][11][9]

Related words

• gentile
• gentiluomo
• gentildonna
• French gentillesse
• Latin gentīlis

Usage notes

Per gentilezza is a polite formula that introduces a request, like English “please”.^[5][11][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli