guerra

Forms

guerra f (plural guerre, diminutive guerricciòla or (literary) guerricciuòla)^[1] Old Italian forms include guera, gerra, vera and verra.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a Germanic loanword, borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion, quarrel”), recorded as Medieval Latin werra from 858 and as guerra.^[4][1][5][6] DELI and Nocentini give the source as Proto-West Germanic *werra (“mêlée, quarrel”) and compare Old High German firwërran (“to entangle”) and German verwirren (“to confuse”).^[7][8][9] When the word entered Latin is uncertain: DEI says that Latin bellum was already partly replaced by the Germanic word in the late Empire, so that it cannot be told whether it is an early loan into Latin or a later one from Frankish.^[4] Arrigo Castellani, quoted by DELI, sees no reason not to date it to the spoken Latin of the 4th century or earlier.^[7]

The same word is French guerre, Occitan guerra, Catalan guerra, Spanish guerra and Portuguese guerra;^[8][10][4] REW and DEI say it reached the Iberian languages and Occitan through French.^[8][10][4] Related words include German Wirre (“turmoil”) and Wirrwarr (“chaos”).^[11][9]

Why the Latin word disappeared from all of Romance is debated: Bruno Migliorini, quoted by DELI and Sabatini–Coletti, saw in the change the disorderly Germanic way of fighting winning over the ordered Roman one.^[7][12] The GDLI points out that the Latin noun had become a homophone of bellus (“pretty”), and takes the Germanic word as a euphemism.^[3] The Latin word survives only in learned words such as bellico and belligerante.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur super natura feminarum.^[2] DELI dates the word to before 1294, in Brunetto Latini and Folcacchiero de' Folcacchieri, and GRADIT to 1274.^[7][9] Latini writes of the Guelphs of Florence: “per mala provedenza / e per forza di guerra / eran fuor dela terra” (through poor foresight and by force of war they were out of the city).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “discord between people” is in Dante (1313–1319), and the poets of the dolce stil novo and Petrarch's followers used the word for the torment of love.^[7] Dante also used it for toil and trial: “io sol uno / m'apparecchiava a sostener la guerra” (I alone was making ready to bear the struggle).^[9] Old Italian guerriero came from Old French guerrier and guerreggiare from French guerroyer.^[8] Guerriglia (1573) is Spanish guerrilla “little war”, which became known again in Italy in the Napoleonic period and in the 1970s.^[7]

Many modern phrases are translations: Guerra mondiale rendered German Weltkrieg in the Italian press of 1914, and guerra lampo German Blitzkrieg.^[7] Guerra fredda renders English cold war, which Walter Lippmann made current in 1947, and in 1950 Giacomo Devoto already counted it as part of the common language.^[7] Guerrafondaio “warmonger” was coined by the journalist Gandolin during the Italo-Ethiopian war of 1896.^[7] The word is also used for any fierce contest, as guerra dei prezzi “price war”, and for a campaign against something, as guerra alla droga.^[9][12]

Timeline

• 858 – Medieval Latin werra is first recorded.^[1]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses guerra.^[7]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for discord between people.^[7]
• 1573 – Guerriglia is first recorded.^[7]
• 1896 – Guerrafondaio is coined during the war in Ethiopia.^[7]
• 1914 – Guerra mondiale translates German Weltkrieg.^[7]
• 1950 – Devoto counts guerra fredda as part of the common language.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. war, armed conflict between states, peoples or organised groups: Il paese entrò in guerra nella primavera del 1915.^[9][12][14]
2. A conflict carried on by means other than arms: guerra commerciale, guerra dei prezzi.^[9][12]
3. (figurative) Hostility, a bitter feud between people or groups: Tra le due famiglie è guerra aperta.^[9][12][7]
4. (figurative) A determined fight against an evil: la guerra alla povertà.^[9][12]
5. (literary) The struggle of opposing forces, especially the elements.^[9]
6. (archaic) Toil, hardship, trial.^[9][12]

Word family

• guerriero
• guerreggiare
• guerresco
• guerriglia
• guerrigliero
• guerrafondaio
• agguerrire
• agguerrito
• anteguerra
• postguerra

Related words

• bellico
• belligerante
• French guerre

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1890
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 5, 939
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana