misura

Forms

misura f (plural misure)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian mesura, Old Italian messura, Old Italian mexura and Old Italian missura.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mēnsūra (“measurement, size”), formed from mēnsus, the past participle of mētior (“to measure”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The word is pan-Romance: French mesure, Occitan mesura, Catalan mesura, Spanish mesura, Portuguese mesura, Sardinian mesura and Romanian măsură.^[5][8] Its outcome Aromanian misură came to mean a deep bowl, and was passed on as Albanian misure (“plate”).^[8]

The Latin verb is made from a noun Proto-Italic *mēti- (“measurement”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-ti-, formed to the root Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”), which also gave mese and metro.^[9][5] De Vaan explains the form of the participle as analogical.^[9] The verb misurare continues Late Latin mēnsūrō, a later formation from the noun, used by Vegetius in the 4th–5th century.^[4]

Some senses were later taken from French: “measure, step taken” and misurarsi “to compete” were attacked in the 19th century as needless Gallicisms, and the phrase for “insofar as” renders French dans la mesure où.^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date the first record before 1204.^[6][5] DELI's earliest dated sense is “discretion, moderation”, in Giacomo da Lentini before 1250, and the mathematical sense, the ratio of a quantity to a unit, is in Brunetto Latini before 1294.^[4]

Semantic evolution

DELI dates the sense of a quantity or size to 1296, the measuring instrument to Dante (1304–1308), and the figurative “criterion” to Dante;^[4] “limit” is in Francesco da Barberino (before 1348), the metrical unit of a verse in Francesco da Buti (before 1406), and the act of measuring in Bernardino of Siena (1427).^[4] In music misura became the bar, in Vincenzo Galilei (1584).^[4]

The sense “measure, step taken” is first recorded in 1670 and was still opposed by purists in 1831 and 1848.^[4] Nella misura in cui entered Italian in the 1949 translation of Lenin's works and became a byword for the empty jargon of the student left after 1968.^[4] DEI records a misura “little by little” from the 16th century, after French à mesure.^[11]

Timeline

• Before 1204 – First record.^[6][5]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it for moderation.^[4]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it in mathematics.^[4]
• 1296 – It means a quantity or size.^[4]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for a measuring instrument.^[4]
• Before 1406 – Francesco da Buti uses it for the metre of a verse.^[4]
• 1427 – Bernardino of Siena uses it for the act of measuring.^[4]
• 1584 – Vincenzo Galilei uses it for the musical bar.^[4]
• 1670 – The sense “step taken” is recorded.^[4]
• 1949 – Nella misura in cui appears in a translation of Lenin.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics, physics) measure: the number expressing the ratio between a quantity and a unit of the same kind.^[6][12][13]
2. The dimensions of an object: Prima di comprare l'armadio prendi le misure della parete.^[6][12][13]
3. The measurements of the body; a clothing size: Che misura porti di camicia?^[6][13][10]
4. The act of measuring, measurement.^[6][14]
5. A measuring instrument or standard.^[6][10]
6. (figurative) A criterion, yardstick.^[10][4]
7. A limit; moderation: Mangia e beve sempre con misura.^[6][10][1]
8. A step taken, a provision: Il governo ha annunciato nuove misure contro l'inflazione.^[10][4]
9. (music) A bar.^[1][4]
10. (prosody) The metre of a verse.^[4]

Word family

• misurabile
• misurato
• misuratore
• misurazione
• misurino
• smisurato
• dismisura
• contromisura
• sottomisura
• commisurare

Related words

• misurare
• mese
• metro
• Latin mēnsūra
• French mesure

Usage notes

Common phrases: su misura (made to measure; just right), di misura (by a narrow margin), a misura d'uomo (on a human scale), oltre misura (beyond measure) and avere due pesi e due misure (to apply double standards).^[6][13][15] Misura is also a form of the verb misurare.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b 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 f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2478
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. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org