gruppo

Forms

gruppo m (plural gruppi)^[1]

Etymology

It is a form of groppo (“knot, tangle”), and has the same Germanic origin.^[2][3][4][5] According to DELI, both are borrowed from Late Latin cruppa (“thick rope”), a word of the Latin glosses that renders a Germanic word for a lump, related to German Kropf (“goitre”).^[2][6] Wiktionary reconstructs Vulgar Latin *cruppus, from Frankish *krupp, from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“bunch; lump”).^[1] Nocentini takes it from Gothic *kruppa (“tangle, round mass; knot”), and Devoto from Old High German, through Medieval Latin *gruppus.^[3][7] Meyer-Lübke found the relation between this word, groppa and the French croupe unclear.^[8] The initial /g/ is the voicing of /k/ before /r/ that is not rare in Tuscan.^[9]

The word passed from Italian to French groupe (1668, in art) and Spanish grupo, and through French to English group and German Gruppe.^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the sense “set of things or persons” is in Pietro Aretino's Dialogues (1536), in the form groppo; in its present form it appears in Galileo before 1642, who writes of “il gruppo delle macchie” (the group of sunspots).^[2][4][11] In art criticism gruppo di figure is recorded from 1550, in Giorgio Vasari.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th and 17th centuries the word also meant a bundle, and especially a sealed bag of coins;^[10][12][5] French took this as group (1723).^[10][12][5] In music gruppo and gruppetto named an ornament of several notes, recorded from about 1535, and English borrowed gruppo in this sense in 1674.^[2][10]

DELI's dated senses trace its spread: a body of people bound by nature, interests or ideas (before 1808, Cesarotti), a division in a scientific classification (1833), a group photograph (1860), a set of linked devices (1887), a group of companies (1936) and the pack in a cycling race (1954).^[2] Gruppo di pressione (1963) is a calque of American English pressure group.^[2] From the 1970s gruppettaro and gruppuscolo named members of small far-left groups; the suffix of the first shows that it spread from Rome, and the second follows French groupuscule.^[2][3]

Timeline

• About 1535 – Gruppetto names a musical ornament in Annibal Caro.^[2]
• 1536 – Pietro Aretino uses groppo for a group of things or people.^[2][4]
• 1550 – Vasari writes of a gruppo di figure.^[2][10]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses the form gruppo.^[2]
• 1668 – French groupe is recorded in art.^[10]
• 1674 – English borrows gruppo as a musical term.^[10]
• Before 1808 – Melchiorre Cesarotti uses it for a group of people with common bonds.^[2]
• 1860 – It is used for a group photograph.^[2]
• 1954 – It is used for the pack in cycling.^[2]
• 1963 – Gruppo di pressione is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group, cluster: several people or things together: Un gruppo di ragazzi aspettava davanti al cinema.^{[4][13][9][1]}
2. A group of people with shared ideals, interests or aims: un gruppo politico.^[4][9][14]
3. A team working together: gruppo di ricerca.^[4][14]
4. A band, a group of musicians: Suona la batteria in un gruppo jazz.^[4][1]
5. (cycling) The main pack of riders, the peloton.^[4][15][1]
6. (military) A unit of two or more batteries or squadrons, of similar ships, or of several air squadrons.^[4][15]
7. (economics) A group of companies under common control.^[4][9]
8. (art) A group of figures, especially in sculpture.^[4][15]
9. (science) A class in a classification; in mathematics, a group in the algebraic sense.^[9][16]

Word family

• aggruppare
• gruppetto
• raggruppare
• gruppettaro
• gruppuscolo
• raggruppamento
• sottogruppo
• gruppale
• intergruppo
• semigruppo

Related words

• groppo
• groppa
• French groupe
• English group

Usage notes

The word forms many set phrases, such as gruppo sanguigno “blood group” (1956), gruppo elettrogeno “generating set” (1909), gruppo parlamentare and foto di gruppo.^[2][14][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1878
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 83
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 2, 1227
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org