immortale

Forms

immortale m or f by sense (plural immortali)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian inmortale, Old Italian imortale and southern Old Italian immurtali.^[2]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin immortālis, from Latin in- + mortālis (“mortal”) with the negative prefix.^{[3][4][5][1][6]} De Vaan lists mortālis, mors (“death”) and the adjective itself among the derivatives of morior (“to die”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr-ie/o- (“to die”).^[7]

immortalità goes back to immortālitās, while immortalare is an Italian formation.^[3] DEI compares French immortel, of the 13th century, and Ancient Greek ἀθάνατος (athánatos).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Storia de Troia e de Roma, a Roman text of 1252–1258, with the sense “not subject to death”: the author learned from Pythagoras that the soul was immortal.^[2][9][3] Zingarelli dates the word to about 1261, DEI only to the 14th century.^[10][8]

Semantic evolution

Dante has the sense “lasting for ever, perennial” (1300–1313).^[3] The TLIO also records the use for what lasts disproportionately long, and the noun for a being that lives for ever.^[2] In modern Italian gli immortali are the gods of classical myth, the members of the Académie française (French les immortels) and the ten thousand picked soldiers of the Persian army.^[5][11][12]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storia de Troia e de Roma says the soul is immortale.^[2][9]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the word for what lasts for ever.^[3]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses immortalità.^[3]
• Before 1543 – Firenzuola uses immortalare.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. immortal: not subject to death: Gli dei erano creduti immortali.^[5][11][13]
2. (by extension) That will never end, everlasting; remembered for ever: un romanzo immortale.^[5][11][10]

Noun

1. (mostly plural) The gods and demigods of classical mythology.^[5][11][10]
2. (plural) The members of the Académie française.^[5][11][14]
3. (plural) The Immortals, a corps of ten thousand picked soldiers of the Persian army.^[5][12]
4. A person whose fame will never be forgotten: uno degli immortali del cinema.^[13]

Word family

• immortalità
• immortalare
• immortalmente

Related words

• mortale
• morte
• Latin immortālis

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. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1951
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli