mezzanotte

Forms

mezzanotte f (plural mezzenotti)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian mezzo + notte, with the adjective in the feminine to agree with the noun.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary allows that it may also continue the phrase Latin mediam noctem directly.^[1] Dante still writes it with a space between its parts.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI and GRADIT date the first record to Dante's Commedia (1313–1319), in the sense of the middle of the night: Vespero là, e qui mezza notte era (“It was evening there, and here midnight”, Purgatorio 15.6).^[7][2][6] Zingarelli gives the earlier date 1282.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo defines the word as the point halfway through the night, and records it also for the clock's striking of that hour, as in batte la mezzanotte.^[9] In popular and literary tradition it is the darkest hour, when the dead and ghosts appear and spells are cast.^[6]

Like mezzogiorno “south”, the word came to mean “north”;^[7] Rigutini in 1886 judged this use best left to geographers and rather ridiculous.^[7] Astronomy distinguishes the mezzanotte vera, media and civile, and the sole di mezzanotte is the midnight sun of the polar regions.^[10][2] The plural, rare, is mezzenotti or mezzanotti.^[3][10]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante writes mezza notte in the Purgatorio.^[7][2]
• 1886 – Rigutini records the sense “north”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. midnight: the end of the twenty-fourth hour, when one day ends and the next begins: ci vediamo verso mezzanotte.^[2][4][5]
2. The striking of midnight by a clock or bells.^[2][3][5]
3. (astronomy) The moment the Sun crosses the lower meridian of a place.^[2][3][10]
4. (dated) north, the cardinal point opposite mezzogiorno.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• mezzo
• notte
• mezzogiorno

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10
7. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)