gigante

Forms

gigante m or f by sense (plural giganti)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian giogante, Old Italian giugante, Old Italian gegante and the northern Old Italian zigante and Old Italian zagante.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin gigās (“giant”).^[5][6][7][1] The Latin word is a borrowing of Ancient Greek γίγας (gígas), the name of the mythical sons of Earth who fought the gods; it was already an adjective in Greek and a common noun in Latin.^[5][6][7] The origin of the Greek word is unclear: DELI suggests a pre-Greek substrate word, and DEI calls it an Aegean relic.^[5][8]

The popular outcome of the Latin word is French: Vulgar Latin *gagantem, with the first syllable assimilated to the second, gave Old French jaiant, modern French géant, from which English giant comes.^[6][9][8] The old forms Old Italian giogante (Tuscan) and Old Italian zagante (Genoese), and Neapolitan gialande and Sicilian giufanti, are borrowings from Old French.^[8][9] Körting already noted that the word was popular only in Gaul.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Storie de Troia e de Roma, a Roman text of 1252–1258, for a legendary being of great height and strength who lived in ancient times.^[2] DELI's first record is the plural gigante in Jacomo de' Tolomei, in the 13th century, for the sons of Earth who fought Jupiter.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for the giants of classical myth, of the Bible and of the Arthurian romances, and Dante uses the plural giganti in 1300–1313.^[2][5] Before 1311 Giordano da Pisa used it figuratively for a person who excels in strength or virtue, and Francesco da Buti, before 1406, notes that common people call very tall men giganti.^[5]

As an adjective, “of great size”, it is recorded before 1348 in Giovanni Villani, and the use was taken up again in the 19th century.^[5] Its spread in the 20th century for products of large size (formato gigante) recalls the American use of giant, according to Klajn.^[5] Modern Italian also uses it in sport for the giant slalom and in astronomy for giant stars.^[7][11][12]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma use gigante.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the plural giganti.^[5]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses it of a person who excels.^[5]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it as an adjective, “huge”.^[5]
• Before 1406 – Francesco da Buti uses it of very tall people.^[5]
• 1874 – Gigantismo is recorded.^[5][6]
• 1963 – The adjective is used of large-size commercial products.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A giant, a being of huge size and strength in myth, the Bible and fairy tales; in Greek myth, one of the sons of Earth who fought the gods.^[7][11][13]
2. A very tall, big person: Suo fratello è un gigante, supera i due metri.^[7][11][14]
3. (figurative) A person who excels in a field, and also a very powerful nation or company: un gigante della fisica.^[7][11][14]
4. (sports) Short for slalom gigante, the giant slalom.^[7][13][12]

Adjective

1. Very large, bigger than normal, always after the noun: una zucca gigante.^[7][11][14]
2. (astronomy) Stella gigante, a giant star, gigante rossa, a red giant.^[11][12]

Word family

• gigantesco
• gigantessa
• giganteggiare
• gigantismo
• gigantografia
• gigantomachia
• ingigantire
• giganteo
• supergigante

Related words

• Latin gigās
• French géant

Usage notes

Fare passi da gigante means “to make great strides, progress very quickly”.^[12][15] The feminine is gigantessa, often jocular.^[13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 502
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1806
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli