lezione

Forms

lezione f (plural lezioni)^[1] Old forms include lecione, leczione and lezzione.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin lectiō (“reading; selection”), a noun of action from lēctus, the past participle of legō (“to gather; to read”).^[3][4][5][1] In its first centuries the Italian word kept the Latin sense “reading”.^[3] The Latin verb first meant “to gather, collect”, and de Vaan traces the shift to “read” through “to watch, attend to”; it goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect”), as does Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to gather; to speak”).^[6]

The Latin noun gave Old French leçon and Old French leichon in the 11th century, and, from French came Middle English lessun and modern English lesson.^[7][2] Spanish lección has the same source.^[4][8] The philological sense, “reading of a text”, was known in antiquity and taken up again by the humanists.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Iacopone da Todi in 1306, with the sense “reading”.^[3] Dante writes to the reader of the Inferno “Dio ti lasci, lettor, prender frutto / di tua lezione” (may God let you, reader, take fruit from your reading).^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century lezione was also a passage of Scripture read in the divine office, and Domenico Cavalca, before 1342, uses it for teaching and instruction.^[3][7][5] In medieval universities a lesson was the reading and explanation of a text.^[9][10]

The school sense, the teaching given at one time to one or more pupils, is in Giovan Battista Gelli before 1563, and the material set to be learned in 1618.^[3] Stefano Guazzo uses the word in 1574 for an academic lecture, and an annotated Decameron of 1573 for the reading of a word or passage in a manuscript, the sense of textual criticism.^[3] Guicciardini, before 1540, already uses lezione for a scolding or punishment, as in dare una lezione a qualcuno.^[3][11]

Timeline

• 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses lezione for “reading”.^[3]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for instruction.^[3][5]
• Before 1540 – Guicciardini uses it for a scolding or punishment.^[3]
• Before 1563 – Giovan Battista Gelli uses it for a lesson taught.^[3]
• 1573 – The philological sense, the reading of a manuscript, is recorded.^[3]
• 1574 – Stefano Guazzo uses it for an academic lecture.^[3]
• 1618 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses it for the material to be learned.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lesson or class: a period of teaching given by a teacher to one or more pupils: Il martedì ho lezione di chitarra.^{[5][11][10][1]}
2. The material to be studied or learned for a lesson: Hai ripassato la lezione?^[5][11][12]
3. (in the plural) The published content of a course: lezioni di diritto privato.^[11][13]
4. A lecture, an academic address.^[11][12][13]
5. (figurative) An example to learn from; a reprimand or punishment: Quella sconfitta gli è servita da lezione.^[5][11][12]
6. (philology) A reading, the form in which a word or passage appears in a manuscript or edition.^[5][10][12]
7. (Christianity) A passage of Scripture read in the office or the Mass.^[5][12]
8. (archaic) Reading.^[5][11]

Word family

• lezioncina
• lezionario

Related words

• leggere
• lettore
• lettura
• French leçon
• English lesson

Usage notes

Fare lezione is “to teach a class”, dare and prendere lezioni “to give, take lessons”, and dare una lezione a qualcuno “to teach someone a lesson”.^[5][11] A separate obsolete lezione meant “election, choice”: it is elezione with the first vowel dropped, used by Giovanni Villani and others in the 14th century.^[7][2][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2218
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET