Etymologically
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miracolo

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Pronunciation

  • /miˈra.ko.lo/[1]

Forms

miracolo m (plural miracoli)[1] Old Italian also had miraculo and feminine plurals miracola, miracole, miracula and miracule.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin mīrāculum (“wonder, marvel”), from mīror (“to wonder at, be astonished”) and the suffix -culum.[3][4][5][6][1] The Latin word, like Ancient Greek θαῦμα (thaûma), named something that causes astonishment and awe at a power wholly other than ours.[3] French miracle and Spanish milagro are the same word,[4] as are Old Occitan miracle and Portuguese milagre.[7][8]

The Latin verb is formed from mīrus (“astonishing”), which de Vaan, after Vine, traces to a collective noun Proto-Indo-European *sméi-ro- (“laughter”).[9] Körting notes that Old Italian miraglio (“mirror”), from the same Latin word, is a French loan.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bono Giamboni, who died before 1292, in the religious sense of an extraordinary event outside the laws of nature.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses followed quickly: an incredible event in the 13th-century Storie de Troia et de Roma (plural miracule), and a person of extraordinary virtue in Dante's Vita Nuova (1282–1293).[3] In the 15th century miracolo named a kind of sacred drama in which the plot is resolved by a miracle of the Virgin or a saint.[3][10] The phrase vita, morte e miracoli di qualcuno, everything about a person, comes from the usual titles of saints' lives.[3][11]

The adjective miracoloso came from Medieval Latin miraculosus (Dante, 1304–1308), and miracolato, one healed by a miracle, was in Panzini's view a clumsy loan from French miraculé, spread with the cult of Lourdes (1927).[3][4] Modern phrases include miracolo economico, the very fast growth of an economy (1966), gridare al miracolo and corte dei miracoli.[3][11]

Timeline

  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses miracolo.[3]
  • 13th century – The Storie de Troia et de Roma use the plural miracule for incredible events.[3]
  • 1282–1293 – Dante uses miracolo of a person of extraordinary virtue.[3]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses miracoloso.[3]
  • Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses miracolo for an incredible event.[3]
  • 15th century – Miracolo appears in the titles of sacred plays.[3]
  • 1927 – Miracolato is recorded by Panzini.[3]
  • 1966 – Miracolo economico is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A miracle: an extraordinary event outside the order of nature, attributed to God or to a supernatural power: i miracoli dei santi.[5][12][10]
  2. Something unbelievable or astonishing: È un miracolo che nessuno si sia fatto male.[5][10][11]
  3. An effect beyond all expectation: Questa crema fa miracoli.[5][12][13]
  4. A marvel of art, science or technology: i miracoli dell'ingegneria.[5][10][14]
  5. (figurative) A person of extraordinary virtue or ability.[11][3]
  6. (history of literature) A medieval miracle play.[10][3]

Word family

  • miracolato
  • miracoloso
  • miracolosità
  • miracolare

Usage notes

Che miracolo! and miracolo! express surprise, often ironic, at something unusual;[5][11] per miracolo means narrowly, against all expectation.[5][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli