margherita

Forms

margherita f (plural margherite)^[1] The older form Old Italian margarita is recorded from the 14th century and survives as an archaic or regional variant.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin margarīta (“pearl”), from Ancient Greek μαργαρίτης (margarítēs), a word of Eastern origin.^[4][5][1] The Latin noun is feminine, sometimes neuter, while the Greek one is masculine.^[4] Devoto explained the ⟨e⟩ as the Tuscan change of unstressed /ar/ to /er/.^[6]

Nocentini traces the Greek word to Middle Persian murwārīd (“pearl; flower bud”), with the same transfer of sense as in gemma.^[7] Brust disputes this, taking the Middle Persian word as an adaptation of the Greek one and proposing an Indic origin.^[7] Prati thought it of Semitic origin.^[8]

Prati and DEI take it from French marguerite, recorded for the daisy in the 13th century, the shift from pearl to flower having taken place in France in the early Middle Ages.^[8][2] Devoto–Oli, Treccani and the GDLI say that the Greek word already had both senses, the second perhaps because of the white colour.^[3][9][10] The word is also Old Occitan margarida and Spanish margarita.^[7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the 13th-century poet Uguccione da Lodi, with the sense “pearl”.^[4][10] The flower name appears in Alamanni in 1546.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Until the 16th century the word meant a pearl or precious stone, and figuratively the best part of a thing.^[10][2] Dante called the heaven of the Moon l'etterna margarita, “the eternal pearl”, in Paradiso II.^[9][11] Church writers from the 14th century used the phrase gittar le margherite ai porci, from Matthew 7:6.^[8]

The flower sense took over from the 16th century, and margheritina named the small daisy (Bellis perennis) from 1735.^[4][7] Sailors used the word from 1715 for a knot and a rope tied round the middle of a line, and in slang it meant the hangman's rope and torture.^[8][2] Modern senses include the daisy wheel of typewriters and printers,^[3][12] small glass beads,^[3][12] a shape of pasta,^[13] and a centre party, La Margherita, formed in 2001 and merged into the Democratic Party in 2007.^[13][10]

The pizza margherita, the pasta margherita and the torta margherita were named in the 20th century after Queen Margherita of Savoy.^[5][3][10] English borrowed margherita for the pizza.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses margarete “pearls”.^[4][10]
• 14th century – The form margarita is recorded.^[8]
• 1546 – Alamanni uses margherita for the daisy.^[4]
• 1715 – The nautical sense, a kind of knot, is recorded.^[8]
• 1735 – Margheritina names the small daisy.^[4]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records margheritina as a diminutive.^[4]
• 20th century – Pizza margherita is named after Queen Margherita.^[5]
• 1938 – Margheritona names Leucanthemum maximum.^[7]
• 2001 – La Margherita is formed as a centre party.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A daisy: a scentless flower with usually white petals round a yellow centre, wild in meadows and grown in gardens.^[5][3][12]
2. The oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), and other plants with similar flower heads.^[5][13][14]
3. A daisy wheel of a typewriter or printer.^[5][3][12]
4. (nautical) nodo margherita, a sheepshank, a knot that shortens a rope without cutting it.^[13][14]
5. (usually plural) Small coloured glass beads; conteria.^[5][3][12]
6. (cooking) pizza margherita, a Neapolitan pizza with tomato and mozzarella: torta margherita, a sponge cake.^[5][3][15]
7. (archaic) A pearl; a gem.^[5][3][13]
8. (literary) A heavenly body, a star.^[5][3][12]
9. (politics; usually capitalised) La Margherita, a centre coalition founded for the 2001 elections.^[5][13]

Word family

• margheritina
• margheritona
• margaritaio

Related words

• perla
• French marguerite
• Latin margarita

Usage notes

Sfogliare la margherita is to pull the petals off one by one while reciting m'ama, non m'ama, and figuratively to be undecided.^[5][13][9] In southern dialects margarita also means a tap, from the woman's name.^[2] As a given name, Margherita is the equivalent of English Margaret.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2366
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 636
9. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana