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metro

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Italian has three nouns spelled metro: the learned metro of verse and measure, from Latin; the unit of length, from French; and the feminine metro, short for metropolitana.[1][2][3] DELI numbers the first two in this order, and GRADIT puts the unit first.[1][2]

metro1 metre (in verse), measure

Pronunciation

Forms

metro m (plural metri)[3] Old Italian had the feminine plural le metra.[4] Popular forms of the same word survive as Old Paduan medro (a measure of length), Old Marchigian medro (a measure of volume) and Old Friulian miero (1329); in Venice miero was a measure of 25 pounds of oil.[5][6][7]

Etymology

The metre of verse is a learned word, borrowed from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), of Indo-European origin.[1][8][2] Nocentini derives the Greek word from the root Proto-Indo-European *mē- (“to measure”), which also gave mese and misura.[8] The Latin adjective metricus gave metrico, and the noun used for the art of verse gave metrica.[1][8] The word is also French mètre and Spanish metro.[8]

Boccaccio explained the name himself: “dicesi metro da ‘metros’ grece, che in latino suona ‘misura’” (it is called metro from the Greek word, which in Latin means “measure”), because verses are measured by a measure.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini's first date is before 1321, in Dante, who uses the word in its Greek sense “measure”: in Purgatory the fire is so hot that it burns “sanza metro” (beyond measure).[8][4][1] DELI and GRADIT date the metrical sense to the 14th century, with metra in Cecco Nuccoli and metro in Boccaccio, before 1375.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Dante used the word also for verse and for a way of speaking: “e con paura il metto in metro” (and with fear I put it in verse), and “pur rispuosi lui a questo metro” (I answered him in this manner).[2][9] In 1340 metro is recorded as a measure of capacity of the Levant.[1] Tommaseo's dictionary (1869) has the sense “system of versification”, and Leopardi uses it for a regular beat, comparing thunder to that of a torrent.[1][2]

English borrowed metro (from Italian or Spanish) for a poetic metre in 1619; the word is obsolete there.[10]

Timeline

  • Before 1321 – Dante uses metro for “measure” and for verse.[8][2]
  • 1340 – Metro is a measure of capacity of the Levant.[1]
  • 14th century – Cecco Nuccoli uses metra.[1]
  • Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses metro for the measure of verse.[1][2]
  • 1619 – English metro is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (prosody) In Greek and Latin verse, the unit of measure of a line, made of one or two feet; also the line or stanza made of such units.[2][11][12]
  2. In modern poetry, the metrical scheme of a line, stanza or poem: Il poeta ha scelto un metro insolito per questa ballata.[2][11][9]
  3. (archaic) A measure, limit, as in sanza metro (beyond measure).[2][11]
  4. (literary) Verse, poetry; a way of speaking, a tone.[2][11][12]
  5. (literary) A beat, a sound repeated at regular intervals.[2]

Word family

  • metrica
  • metrico
  • metrologia
  • metronomo

metro2 metre (unit of length)

Pronunciation

Forms

metro m (plural metri)[3]

Etymology

The unit of length is borrowed from French mètre (1791), formed from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”).[1][8][2] On 26 May 1791 the Académie des Sciences proposed the new unit as the single measure of length for the whole country, not without opposition.[1]

Earlier, as Migliorini noted, the Italian physicist Tito Livio Burattini of Agordo had used the Greek word for a universal unit in his “Misura universale” (1675): “cavarò prima il mio Metro Cattolico cioè misura universale” (I shall first derive my Universal Metre, that is, universal measure).[1] The derivative metraggio is French métrage, while metratura was formed in Italian.[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the proceedings of the assemblies of the Cisalpine Republic, in 1798;[1][8][2][11] GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti date it to 1801.[1][8][2][11] DELI notes that the date 1791 sometimes given is that of the French word.[1]

Semantic evolution

The metre was defined at first as one ten-millionth of the arc of meridian between a pole and the equator, then by a material standard, and since 1983 by the distance light travels in a fraction of a second.[13][12] The name passed to the measuring rule or tape (1902, Giovanni Pascoli), and figuratively to a standard of judgement (before 1917, Giovanni Boine).[1]

Metraggio was first the measuring in metres (1905) and the quantity of material in metres (1881), and then the length of a film: film a lungo, a corto metraggio is recorded in 1926.[1]

Timeline

  • 1675 – Tito Livio Burattini proposes a Metro Cattolico.[1]
  • 1791 – The French Académie des Sciences proposes the mètre.[1][2]
  • 1798 – Metro appears in the acts of the Cisalpine Republic.[1][8]
  • 1881 – Metratura and metraggio are recorded.[1]
  • 1902 – Giovanni Pascoli uses it for a measuring rule.[1]
  • Before 1917 – Giovanni Boine uses it for a standard of judgement.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A metre, the basic unit of length of the metric system and the International System: La stanza è lunga quattro metri.[2][14][11]
  2. A measuring rule or tape a metre or more long, divided into centimetres: metro a nastro, metro da sarto.[2][11][12]
  3. (figurative) A yardstick, a standard of judgement: Non puoi giudicare tutti con lo stesso metro.[2][11][12]
  4. A way of behaving: Con lui devi cambiare metro.[2][9]

Word family

  • centimetro
  • millimetro
  • decimetro
  • chilometro
  • metraggio
  • metratura

metro3 underground railway

Pronunciation

Forms

metro f (invariable)[3]

Etymology

The underground railway is a clipping of metropolitana.[3][14][4] The full word (1932) is short for “ferrovia metropolitana”, after French chemin de fer métropolitain, and French has the same shortening, French métro.[2][14][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Devoto–Oli date the short form to the second half of the 20th century.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (feminine, invariable) The underground, the subway, an urban railway: Per andare in centro prendo la metro.[2][14][13][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2445
  6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 659
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  10. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ 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