lucore

Forms

lucore m (plural lucori)^[1] Old Italian also has lugor and luor.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lūcōrem (“light, brightness”), from Latin lūceō (“to shine”).^[1][3][4][5] DELI and the GDLI call it learned: Late Latin lucor is recorded only in Oribasius, in the 6th century, though it has some popular outcomes.^[6][7] It is formed like fulgor from fulgeō and splendor from splendeō.^[4][8][6]

The same word is Romanian lucoare, French lueur, Old Occitan lugor, Sardinian lugore and Old Bellunese lugor.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Guido Guinizzelli, before 1276, where the poet's heart rises into such brightness that it relights like a salamander in fire.^[6][2][7] The sense is a strong light, splendour.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses it in the Paradiso: con tanto lucore e tanto robbi / m'apparvero splendor dentro a due raggi (“with such brightness and so red, splendours appeared to me within two rays”).^[7][10] Tommaseo marked it as obsolete but noted that it lived on in some dialects.^[10]

Poets of the 19th and 20th centuries took it up again for a soft, diffuse light: Pascoli writes e là tra il nero era un lucor d'altare (“and there among the black was an altar's glow”), and ai primi lucori means at first light.^[8][7] It is now literary, with a figurative sense, a glimmer or semblance.^[11][12]

Timeline

• Before 1276 – Guido Guinizzelli uses lucore.^[6][2]
• Early 14th century – Dante uses it in the Paradiso.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) A strong, vivid light, splendour.^[11][4][7]
2. (literary) A soft, diffuse light, a glow.^{[11][12][4][8]}
3. (literary) Sheen, brightness.^[11][3]
4. (figurative) A glimmer, a semblance.^[11][12]

Related words

• luce
• lucere
• Latin lūceō
• French lueur

References

1. ^ a b 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2278
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier