memoria

Forms

memoria f (plural memorie)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian memora and mimoria, and a masculine memoro in the 14th–16th centuries.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin memoria (“memory; remembrance”), a learned word, formed in Latin from memor (“mindful, remembering”) with the suffix -ia.^{[2][5][6][7][1]} DEI notes that the word is found in all Italian dialects and in all the western Romance languages, but never as a popular development: French mémoire, Catalan memòria, Spanish memoria and Portuguese memória are learned too.^[4][5][8] Popular reshapings occur in the dialects, such as Lombard marmoria and Friulian malmueria.^[8]

The origin of Latin “memor” is disputed: one view takes it as a reduplicated form of Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to think, remember”), another derives it from Proto-Italic *memnos, a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”), with the stem changed.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the first record to before 1238.^[5] DELI's earliest forms are memora in Ubertino d'Arezzo (13th century) and in Guittone d'Arezzo, and memoria in Brunetto Latini, who defines it before 1294 as “fermo ricevimento nell'animo delle cose e delle parole e dell'ordinamento d'esse” (“the firm reception in the mind of things and words and of their order”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante (1304–1308) uses the word for the image of something kept in the mind, and (1300–1313) for an event that lives again in memory; in the 14th century it also meant an object that brings something back to mind, and already in Brunetto Latini a person or thing worth remembering.^[2] Merchants' documents of 1368 and 1375 use it for a written note, a sense Bernardino of Siena has in 1427, and in the plural it came to mean memoirs (1600, G. Sassetti).^[2]

In the 20th century the word was applied to machines: first to a mechanical device that makes a machine repeat a set task (1948), then to the part of a computer that stores data and programs (1961), on the model of English memory (from 1946).^[2][9] In southern dialects, in Sardinia and at Pisa memoria also names the forehead, the back of the head or the temples, places people thought of as the seat of memory.^[8][10][4]

Derivatives include memoriale (before 1292), from Latin memoriālis, promemoria (second half of the 18th century), from the Latin phrase pro memoria, and memorizzare (1859), from French mémoriser.^[2][5]

Timeline

• Before 1238 – First record.^[5]
• Before 1292 – Memoriale is recorded in Bono Giamboni.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini defines memoria.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for an image kept in the mind.^[2]
• 1368 – A merchant's document uses it for a written note.^[2]
• 1600 – The sense “memoirs” is recorded.^[2]
• 1859 – Memorizzare is recorded.^[5]
• 1946 – English memory is used for computer storage.^[2]
• 1961 – Memoria is used for the memory of a computer.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. memory: the faculty of keeping and recalling past experience and knowledge: Ha una memoria straordinaria per i numeri di telefono.^[6][11][9]
2. A recollection, the remembrance of a person, a thing or an event: Conserva una memoria felice di quell'estate al mare.^[6][9][12]
3. (in the plural) Memoirs, an account of one's own life; also past events kept in a people's tradition.^[9][12][1]
4. A relic or document that bears witness to the past; a keepsake.^[9][12]
5. A short paper on a learned or scientific subject, (law) a written statement submitted by a party.^[9][13][1]
6. (computing) The memory of a computer, the part that stores data and programs.^[2][6][1]
7. (mechanics) A device that makes a machine repeat a set task automatically.^[2]

Word family

• memoriale
• memorialista
• memorizzare
• memorizzazione
• promemoria

Related words

• memorabile
• memorandum
• memore
• memorevole
• Latin memoria
• French mémoire

Usage notes

Imparare, sapere a memoria is to learn, to know by heart;^[6][12][14] a memoria d'uomo means “as far back as anyone can remember”, and a medaglia alla memoria is awarded posthumously.^[6][12][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2420
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 d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli