gioviale

Forms

gioviale m or f by sense (plural gioviali)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin ioviālis (“of Jupiter”), formed on the stem of the oblique cases of Latin Iuppiter (“Jupiter”).^[2][3][4][5] The sense “cheerful” comes from the astrological belief that the planet Jupiter has a favourable influence on the character of those born under it.^[2][3][6][5] Battisti and Alessio note that the Latin word survives as an inherited word only in Logudorese Sardinian, where it means “old”.^[7][8]

The French word jovial (1546, Rabelais) probably comes from Italian, and so does Spanish jovial.^[7][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Dante's Paradiso, written before 1321, where the planet Jupiter is quella giovïal facella (“that jovial torch”).^[9][4][10] DELI doubts that Dante's adjective can be read in both senses, “of Jupiter” and “cheerful”, since Florio in 1598 still records gioviale only as “born under the planet Jupiter”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word meant “of Jupiter”, the god or the planet: Boccaccio calls the eagle il gioviale uccello, Jupiter's bird.^[9][11] Galileo spoke of the satellites of Jupiter as pianeti gioviali and of the planet's imagined inhabitants as gioviali, a use that, beside gioviano, lived on into modern science fiction.^[12][2]

The sense “habitually cheerful and genial” appears in the 16th century: GDLI and DIFIT date it before 1566, DELI to 1589, in Giovanni Botero.^[13][2] It is now the ordinary sense, and Goldoni's Zelinda was once sempre allegra e gioviale (“always merry and jovial”).^[11][4] The noun giovialità followed in 1652 (Brusoni), and Redi used the augmentative giovialone before 1698.^[2]

French took jovial in the 16th century, first with the astrological sense (1532) and then with the cheerful one (1549).^[13] English jovial (1580s) came through French from Italian, and directly from Late Latin.^[14]

Timeline

• Before 1321 – Dante calls Jupiter quella giovïal facella.^[9][4]
• 1532 – French jovial is recorded in the sense “of the planet Jupiter”.^[13]
• Before 1566 – gioviale is first used for a cheerful temperament.^[13]
• 1580s – English borrows jovial, through French.^[14]
• 1589 – Giovanni Botero uses gioviale “cheerful and serene”.^[2]
• 1598 – Florio records the word only as “born under the planet Jupiter”.^[2]
• 1652 – giovialità is first recorded, in Brusoni.^[2]
• Before 1698 – Redi uses giovialone.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Habitually cheerful, genial and friendly; showing such good humour: un vecchio gioviale, un sorriso gioviale.^[4][15][16]
2. (literary) Of the planet Jupiter: i satelliti gioviali.^[4][16][5]
3. (literary, uncommon) Of the god Jupiter.^[4][15][5]

Word family

• giovialità
• giovialmente
• giovialone

Related words

• Giove
• gioviano
• Latin Iuppiter
• French jovial

Usage notes

Devoto–Oli records a regional Tuscan form gioiale.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1814
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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, 834
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse