largo

Forms

largo (feminine larga, masculine plural larghi, feminine plural larghe, superlative larghissimo, diminutive larghétto, pejorative (uncommon) largàccio)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin largus (“abundant; generous”).^[2][3][4][1] In Latin the word meant “abundant” and then “generous”, a sense kept mainly in derivatives such as largire;^[2][1] Latin said “wide” with lātus, and the pairing with longus (“long”) helped the Latin adjective take over that sense.^[2][1] The word is found across Romance: French large, Occitan larc, Catalan llarg, Spanish largo (“long”), Portuguese largo, Sardinian largu, Romanian larg and Dalmatian luarg.^[3][5] Welsh llary (“generous, gentle”) was borrowed from Latin.^[5]

The Latin word has no sure cognates.^[3][6][7] Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny proposed a compound “carrying fat”, but de Vaan rejects it, since the long vowel may not be original and the meaning is not convincing.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the sense “ample, capacious” is in Dante (before 1294), who also used larga significazione, a sense not limited to the letter.^[2][4] The figurative sense “generous” is in a 13th-century didactic poem.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante also used largo for “open” and “abundant” (1300–1308), and Boccaccio for “of a given width” (1348–1353).^[2] Used as a noun, it meant “width” in Dante, and later “the open sea, away from the coast” (1444, portolans) and “open space” (before 1764).^[2] In music largo marks a very slow tempo: DIFIT dates the adjective to 1596 and the noun to 1640, and, from Italian it passed into English (1683), French (1705) and German (1728).^[9]

The noun “small square where several streets meet” is Neapolitan, and spread from Naples to Rome from 1907 and further.^[2][10] An English guide of 1778 already mentions the largos of Naples.^[9][2] The nautical vento largo, a wind on the beam, is in Ramusio (16th century).^[7] Turkish alarga comes from the Italian noun.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – Largo “generous” in a didactic poem.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Dante uses largo “ample”.^[2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “of a given width”.^[2]
• 1444 – The noun “open sea” appears in portolans.^[2][9]
• 1596 – The musical adjective is recorded.^[9]
• 1683 – English largo in music is recorded.^[9]
• 1778 – Largo “small square” appears in an English guide to Naples.^[9]
• 1907 – The sense “small square” is recorded in Rome.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. wide, broad: un fiume largo e lento.^[4][11][10]
2. Of a given width: un'asse larga venti centimetri.^[4][11]
3. Ample, roomy; of clothes, loose: Questi pantaloni mi stanno larghi.^[4][11][12]
4. Of arms or legs: spread apart: a gambe larghe.^[4][12]
5. (figurative) generous, free: È sempre largo di complimenti.^[4][10][13]
6. (figurative) Abundant, large: con largo anticipo.^[4][13]
7. (figurative) Broad, not limited to the literal meaning: un'interpretazione larga della norma.^[4][11]
8. (phonetics) Of a vowel: open.^[13][10]

Noun

1. Width: per il largo.^[4]
2. Room, open space: fare largo, to make way.^[4][13]
3. The open sea: al largo, offshore.^[4][14][1]
4. A small square where several streets meet.^[10][1]
5. (music) A largo, a slow movement or tempo.^[1][9]

Interjection

1. Make way!: Largo, largo!^[4]

Word family

• larghezza
• largheggiare
• largura
• allargare
• allargamento
• rallargare
• slargare
• slargo
• largamente
• larghetto

Related words

• largire
• lato
• Latin largus
• French large

Usage notes

Common phrases include alla larga (keep away), prenderla alla larga (to come to the point in a roundabout way), su larga scala (on a large scale) and essere di manica larga (to be lenient).^[13][12][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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. 2169
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d 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 c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana