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Etymology and origin of the Italian word mare

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
before 1250, Giacomo da Lentini
Inherited from
Latin mare
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *móri
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mare
French mer
Italian mare
From the same root
Latin bimaris ← mare
Latin marinus ← mare

Pronunciation

Forms

mare m (plural mari, relational adjective marittimo or marino)[1] Before a name it is often shortened to mar (Mar Nero).[2][3] Giacomino da Verona has maro in the 13th century, and Old Italian sometimes made the word feminine.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mare (“sea”), from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“sea, lake”).[5][6][7][1][8] The word is panromance: French mer, Occitan mar, Catalan mar, Spanish mar, Portuguese mar, Sardinian mare, Romanian mare and Dalmatian mur.[6][9] In Romanian, French, Occitan, Catalan, Old Spanish and the old dialects of Lombardy and Venice it became feminine, probably after the word for land, Latin terra; the GDLI explains the Old Italian feminine from French usage.[9][4][10]

The Latin word has cognates in the western Indo-European languages only: Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹 (marei), Old High German meri, Old Irish muir, Welsh mor, Russian море (móre) and Lithuanian mãrės (“lagoon”);[6][8][5] Sanskrit, Greek and Armenian lack it.[6][8][5] The original sense was any large body of water, a lake or lagoon.[5][6][8][11] De Vaan explains the Latin vowel as an unrounding of ⟨o⟩ in an open syllable.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, with the sense “the mass of salt water that covers most of the globe”.[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Dante still uses the word for a great lake, the older sense that survives in the name of the Dead Sea, Mar Morto.[4] Latin expressions passed into Italian: portare acqua al mare, “to carry water to the sea”, which Giovan Battista Gelli recognized as a Latin proverb (Ovid has aquas in mare fundere), and mare magnum, a great confusion, used before 1629.[5]

From the noun came marea “tide” (Giovanni Villani, before 1348), mareggiare (Dante), mareggiata “storm surge” (Luigi Pulci, before 1484) and maremoto (1891), formed on the model of terremoto.[5][6] Nocentini takes marea from French marée.[6] Galileo, who turned the telescope on the Moon in 1610, called its dark plains maria, seas; the Italian astronomical sense is recorded in 1934.[5] Figurative uses for a vast expanse or a great quantity (un mare di debiti) complete the modern word.[7][3]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses mare.[5]
  • 13th century – Giacomino da Verona uses the form maro.[4]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses marea.[5]
  • Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses mareggiata.[5]
  • 1610 – Galileo names the dark plains of the Moon maria.[5]
  • Before 1629 – Mare magnum is used for a great confusion.[5]
  • 1891 – Maremoto is recorded.[6]
  • 1934 – The lunar sense is recorded in Italian.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The sea, the mass of salt water that surrounds the land: Il mare oggi è calmo.[7][2][3]
  2. A particular part of it, with its own name: il Mar Tirreno, il Mare del Nord.[7][2][3]
  3. The seaside, as a place for holidays: Ad agosto andiamo al mare.[3][2]
  4. (nautical) Rough sea, heavy waves: C'era troppo mare per uscire con la barca.[7]
  5. (figurative) A vast expanse: un mare di sabbia.[7][3]
  6. (figurative) A great quantity: un mare di debiti, un mare di lavoro.[7][3]
  7. (astronomy) A dark plain on the surface of the Moon, a mare: il Mare della Tranquillità.[3][5]

Word family

  • marea
  • mareggiare
  • mareggiata
  • maremoto
  • maretta
  • maroso
  • ammarare
  • ammaraggio
  • marino
  • marittimo
  • marina
  • marinaio
  • maremma
  • Latin mare

Usage notes

Set phrases include alto mare “the open sea”, essere in alto mare “to be far from the goal”, and una goccia nel mare “a drop in the ocean”.[7][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2363
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c d e 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 785
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 272

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Mare.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/mare. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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