migliore
Pronunciation
- /miʎˈʎo.re/[1]
Forms
migliore m or f by sense (plural migliori)[1] Old Italian also had megliore, and Guittone d'Arezzo has the shortened meglior.[2][3]
Etymology
It is inherited from Latin melior (“better”), from the accusative ⟨meliōrem⟩, which served in Latin as the comparative of bonus (“good”).[3][4][5][1] The same word is French meilleur, Occitan melhor, Catalan millor, Spanish mejor and Portuguese melhor; the neuter melius gave the adverb meglio.[4][6]
DELI and Nocentini connect the Latin word with multus (“much”), so that its first meaning would have been “bigger” or “stronger”.[3][4][7] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *mélyōs and compares Ancient Greek μάλα (mála, “very”), but calls the etymology weak; he mentions as an alternative a link with Ancient Greek μέλω (mélō, “to care for”) and Hittite ⟨māl⟩ “mind”.[8][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
DELI's earliest record is the Ritmo laurenziano of the late 12th century, with the sense “better, more good”;[3][4] GRADIT dates the word from 1219.[5]
Semantic evolution
Guittone d'Arezzo (before 1294) has meglior for “happier, less hard”, and Dante (1313–1319) migliore in this sense;[3] Giordano da Pisa (1303–1306) uses it for “more useful, more convenient”.[3] The noun “the best person” is in Domenico Cavalca before 1342.[3]
The verb migliorare continues Late Latin meliōrō, recorded in Ulpian before 228; it is in the Ritmo laurenziano as melliorare “to become better”.[3][4] The noun miglioramento is in the Breve di Montieri (1219) as mellioramento.[3] Miglioria “improvement to land or buildings” (1764) was disliked by the purists, and migliorismo (1957) is English meliorism.[3][4]
Timeline
- Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano uses the adjective and melliorare.[3]
- 1219 – The Breve di Montieri uses mellioramento.[3][5]
- Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses meglior.[3]
- 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for more useful.[3]
- Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses migliore as a noun.[3]
- 1764 – Miglioria is recorded.[3]
Meanings
Adjective
- better, the comparative of buono: Questo vino è migliore di quello.[5][9][1]
- (with the article) The best: Luca è il mio migliore amico.[5][1]
- More able or skilled in an art or profession.[5]
- Superior in quality or value; more advantageous, more convenient.[5][3]
- More suitable, more fitting.[5]
- In better health or spirits.[5][3]
Noun
Word family
- migliorare
- miglioramento
- migliorativo
- miglioria
- migliorismo
- migliorista
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
- ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 282
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier