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locale

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locale1 local

Pronunciation

Forms

locale m or f by sense (plural locali)[1]

Etymology

The adjective is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin locālis (“of place”), from Latin locus (“place”).[2][3][4][1] DELI notes that the Latin word belonged to the scholastic tradition, where it rendered Aristotle's Ancient Greek κατὰ τόπον (katà tópon, “with respect to place”); for Nocentini it was a grammatical term.[2][3] The same learned word is French local (1314) and Spanish local, while the inherited outcome of the Latin adjective is Spanish lugar and Portuguese lugar “place”.[3][5] Wiktionary compares Sicilian lucali.[1]

Latin locus had an older form Latin stlocus; its origin is unclear.[6][1] De Vaan rejects the old link with Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place”), since no suffix of that shape is known, and Wiktionary reports the same doubt.[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Dante's Vita nuova (about 1292–1293), where the word describes motion in physical space, a technical use of philosophy.[7][2] The sense “proper to a particular place” is found before 1364 in Zanobi da Strata, and the medical sense “affecting only one part of the body” before 1338 in Bindo Bonichi.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the adjective belonged to philosophy: moto locale was movement from place to place, distanza locale the measurable distance between two points, and the soul, unlike the body, was said to be non locale.[7][8] The everyday sense “of a particular place” came to the fore later, with colore locale (local colour) and treno locale (1942), the slow train that stops at every station.[2][9]

Modern uses include the local authorities (enti locali), anestesia locale, and in astronomy whatever belongs to our own galaxy.[4][9][10] As a noun, mostly in the plural, i locali are the people of a place.[4][9][10] DELI thinks località owes at least its sense “place, site” to French localité.[2]

Timeline

  • About 1292–1293 – Dante uses locale in the Vita nuova.[7]
  • Before 1338 – Bindo Bonichi uses the medical sense.[2]
  • Before 1364 – Zanobi da Strata uses the sense “proper to a place”.[2]
  • 1942 – Treno locale is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. local, proper to or typical of a particular place: Abbiamo assaggiato i formaggi locali.[4][9][10]
  2. Limited to a particular place or area: un'epidemia locale.[4][11]
  3. (grammar) Of place: un complemento con valore locale.[4][9]
  4. (medicine) Affecting only one part of the body: un'infiammazione locale.[4][9][10]
  5. (mathematics) Relating to a neighbourhood of a point.[4]
  6. (astronomy) Belonging to our own galaxy.[4][9][11]

Noun

  1. (usually plural) An inhabitant of a place, a local: I locali conoscono le spiagge migliori.[4][9][10]
  2. A local train, stopping at every station.[4][10]

Word family

  • località
  • localizzare
  • localizzazione
  • localmente
  • localismo

locale2 room, premises

Pronunciation

Forms

locale m (plural locali)[1]

Etymology

The noun “room, premises” is borrowed from French local, the French adjective used as a noun, and so goes back to the same Latin word as the adjective.[2][4][12][10] GRADIT dates the French sense to 1789 and DEI to the 18th century.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record of the Italian noun is of 1802.[3][4][12]

Semantic evolution

The new noun met resistance: Ugolini wrote that it should not be used unless Italians wished to trail shamefully in the footsteps of the French, but the fifth edition of the Crusca dictionary admitted it without reservation.[2][13] As late as 1840 Cherubini gave no Italian equivalent for the Milanese noun locàl, and the word was debated in the Italian Senate.[2][13] In 1853 D'Ayala built an example using it both ways, about the upkeep of military locali (buildings) being the task of the locali (local) engineers.[2]

Sabatini–Coletti dates the sense “room” (an apartment of five locali) to before 1863.[14] The sense “public place”, such as a bar, restaurant or nightclub, is now among the most common.[4][10][11]

Timeline

  • 1789 – The French noun local is recorded in this sense.[4]
  • 1802 – First Italian record of the noun.[3][4]
  • 1855 – Ugolini condemns it as a Gallicism.[2]
  • Before 1863 – The sense “room of a dwelling” is recorded.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An enclosed space used for a particular purpose; premises: il locale caldaia.[4][10][11]
  2. A room of a dwelling: Cercano un appartamento di tre locali.[4][11]
  3. A public place such as a bar, restaurant or nightclub: In centro hanno aperto un nuovo locale.[4][10][11]

Usage notes

DEI records an older noun locale at L'Aquila in 1362, for a division of the city.[5] Far mente locale means to concentrate one's mind on something.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d e 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 n o p q r s t 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. 2257
  6. ^ a b 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 1
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b c d e f Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  12. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 598
  14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse