grandioso

Forms

grandioso (feminine grandiosa, masculine plural grandiosi, feminine plural grandiose)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][3][4] Nocentini, Devoto, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti take the word from Spanish: it is borrowed from Spanish grandioso, a derivative of grandía (“greatness”).^[2][5][6][7] GRADIT and Devoto trace it to Medieval Latin grandiosus.^[3][5] DEI also sees a learned word of medieval scholastic tradition, formed from Latin grandis (“big”) on the model of gloriosus (“glorious”), and it lists the Spanish word among the outcomes rather than as the source.^[8] Zingarelli, Gabrielli and Wiktionary treat it as an Italian formation from grande with the suffix -oso, made like glorioso from gloria.^[4][9][1] DELI lists it among the derivatives of “grande”.^[10]

The Latin adjective “grandis” meant “grown up, big, tall”.^[11] Its further origin is unclear: de Vaan rejects the comparison with Ancient Greek βρένθος (brénthos, “pride”) and with Slavic words for “breast”, and finds the proposed link with Basque handi (“big”) through a substrate too speculative.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI, GRADIT and DIFIT date the word to 1573, in the sense “impressive for its size, richness or the means employed”.^[10][3][12] DELI also gives 1573 for its use of a person who does things on a grand scale, with a line of Paolo Segneri that Tommaseo also quotes: Non sono grandi, sono grandiosi “they are not great, they are grandiose”.^[10][13] Zingarelli has an earlier date, 1540, and DEI puts the word in the 14th century.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

In the late 17th century Francesco Redi used it of things that strike by their proportions and richness, and Tommaseo explained the difference from grande: what is grande is large in itself, what is grandioso strikes the imagination by the proportion of its parts and their effect.^[10][13] The sense “very ambitious” (progetti grandiosi) and the colloquial “exceptional, terrific” followed, and fare il grandioso means to show off a generosity one cannot afford.^[3][6][14] In music grandioso marks a solemn, majestic performance (1775).^[12][3]

French used grandioso of art and architecture in 1740 and adapted it as grandiose in 1798;^[12] German has grandios from 1781.^[12] English grandiose (1828) came through French, while grandioso itself was taken into English as a musical term (1876).^[15][12] Wiktionary also lists borrowings in Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Esperanto.^[1]

Timeline

• 1540 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[4]
• 1573 – Grandioso is recorded in the sense “imposing”, and of a person who does things in grand style.^[10][3]
• Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses it of things impressive for their size and richness.^[10]
• 1740 – French uses Italian grandioso in writing on art and architecture.^[12]
• 1775 – The musical sense is recorded.^[12]
• 1781 – German grandios is first recorded.^[12]
• 1798 – French grandiose is recorded.^[12]
• 1828 – English grandiose is recorded, taken from French.^[15]
• 1876 – English takes grandioso as a musical term.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. grandiose, imposing: striking for its size, splendour or the means employed: Dal belvedere si apriva un panorama grandioso sulle Alpi.^[3][6][7]
2. Very ambitious, at times beyond what can really be done: Ha sempre piani grandiosi, ma non ne realizza nessuno.^[3][6][14]
3. Exceptional, extraordinary, (colloquial) terrific: È stata una festa grandiosa.^[3][6][4]
4. Of a person: showing off wealth and generosity, often more than is real, (literary) generous, munificent.^[3][14][4]
5. (music) Of a direction: to be played in a solemn, majestic way.^[3][12]

Noun

1. Someone who shows off a liberality beyond their means, chiefly in fare il grandioso “to play the big spender”.^[14][6][9]
2. What is grand or imposing about something; grandiosità.^[14][9]

Word family

• grandiosità
• grandiosamente

Related words

• grande
• Spanish grandioso
• French grandiose
• Latin grandis

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1859
9. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com