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medaglia

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word medaglia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1211 Florentine document More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin *medalia
Ultimate origin
Latin medius
From the same root
English medal ← medaglia

Pronunciation

  • /meˈdaʎ.ʎa/[1]

Forms

medaglia f (plural medaglie)[1] Old forms include Old Italian medalia, Old Italian medalla, Old Italian meaia and Old Italian medaya.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *medālia, a neuter plural taken as a feminine singular.[4][5][1] The form is a dissimilation of *mediālia, the neuter plural of Late Latin mediālis (“in the middle; worth half”), so in effect “(a coin worth) half a denarius”.[4][5][6][1] The Late Latin adjective is formed from Latin medius (“middle, half”).[5][1] Medieval Latin medālia appears in a ninth-century gloss with the sense “half a denarius”.[1]

The same word is French maille (“small copper coin”), Occitan mealha, Catalan malla and Spanish meaja; in Old Portuguese it was mealha.[5][7][8] Meyer-Lübke rejected Diez's derivation from a Latin form meaning “metal (coin)”, related to Latin metallum (“metal”), which the OED still prefers.[8][9]

Italian then lent the newer sense of a commemorative piece to French médaille in the 15th century, and through French to German Medaille (1563) and English medal (1586); Spanish medalla and Portuguese medalha also come from Italian.[7][8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine document of 1211, where medaglia is a small coin worth half a denarius.[2] The Novellino explains that in Florence two of them made one denaio piccolo (che le due valeano uno danaio piccolo).[3][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the coin of small value gave set phrases: vendere a medaglia, to sell as much as a medaglia would buy, and non valere una medaglia, to be worth nothing; by extension it meant money in general.[2] In Tuscany it was also a measure, “as much as one gets for a medaglia”, and as such passed into Old Sardinian.[8][7]

When the coin fell out of use, the name passed to ancient Greek and Roman coins, and in the 15th century, with the new art of the medal, to cast or struck pieces made in their likeness.[11][4][5] DELI's first record of this sense is Leonardo da Vinci, before 1519.[4] The medal given as a prize or honour is recorded from 1773, and the person decorated with one from 1952.[4]

Il rovescio della medaglia, the reverse of the medal, means the other, usually worse, side of a matter;[12][13][14] French has had le revers de la médaille since 1640.[12][13][14]

Timeline

  • 1211 – medaglia “small coin” is recorded in a Florentine document.[2]
  • 1272–1278 – it appears in the Nuovi testi fiorentini.[4]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it.[4][14]
  • 1496 – French médaille is recorded as a coin.[14]
  • Before 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci uses it for a commemorative medal.[4]
  • 1536 – French médaille is recorded in the sense of a medal.[14]
  • 1563 – German borrows the word.[7][14]
  • 1586 – English medal is recorded.[7]
  • 1773 – the sense of a prize or decoration is recorded.[4]
  • 1952 – the sense of a person decorated with a medal is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A medal: a small metal disc bearing figures or inscriptions, made to commemorate a person or event.[15][16][6]
  2. A medal awarded as an honour, to soldiers for valour or to citizens for civic merit; by extension, a person decorated with it.[15][16][6]
  3. (sports) A medal given to those placed first in a competition; by extension, a medallist.[15][16][17]
  4. An award given to firms whose products stood out at a competition or exhibition.[15]
  5. The small medal given to members of parliament.[15][4]
  6. (numismatics, historical) A small medieval coin worth half a denaro.[15][16][13]
  7. (botany) medaglia di Giuda: honesty, the plant Lunaria annua, named for its flat, see-through pods.[15][16]

Word family

  • medagliere
  • medaglietta
  • medaglione
  • medaglista
  • medaglistica
  • medagliaio
  • medagliato

Usage notes

Common phrases are medaglia d'oro, d'argento, di bronzo (gold, silver, bronze medal), medaglia al valor militare and the proverb ogni medaglia ha il suo rovescio.[15][12][17] Some sources date the first commemorative medal to the capture of Padua in 1390.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2401
  8. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 649
  12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  14. ^ a b c d e f Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  16. ^ 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
  17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Medaglia.” Etymologically, 10 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/medaglia. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

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