monaco

Forms

monaco m (plural monaci, feminine monaca)^[1] The old plural was monachi.^[2][3] Old Italian and the dialects also have the form monica.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin monachus, a Christian word recorded in Jerome's letters before 420, where he glosses it as “one alone”.^[5][4][6][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós, “solitary”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone, only”).^[5][4][1] Panigarola noted that Demetrius had called the Greek word plebeian in his own time.^[5]

Beside the Late Latin word Nocentini posits a Vulgar Latin *monicus, the source of most Romance forms, of Old Italian and dialect monica, and of the Germanic loans English monk and German Mönch.^[4] Meyer-Lübke instead held that this form, which the German umlaut seems to require, is not found in Romance.^[7] The Romance words are French moine, Occitan monge (whence Spanish monje), Engadine muong and Friulian muini.^[4][7]

The feminine monaca goes back to Late Latin monacha, Greek μοναχή (monakhḗ).^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plural monagos appears in the Sardinian condaghi of the 12th century; in Italian, the plural monaci is first recorded in Florentine texts of 1278–1279, for the members of a male religious community or monastery.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a hermit who lived alone in prayer, and later a member of a community living under an abbot and a rule.^[3] It gave many place names in Tuscany from the 11th century.^[8]

By personification the word was transferred to objects.^[5][4] The king post, the vertical central post of a simple roof truss, is called monaco from 1550 (Vasari), like Venetian ometo “little man”.^[5] Treccani suggests instead that the name comes from the post standing alone in the middle of the truss.^[3] The wooden frame that holds a pan of embers in a bed, to warm it, is a monaco (1925), earlier monica (1848) or mònaca (1863); the same image is found in French and Catalan, and Tagliavini saw in it a simple personification rather than a jibe at clerical celibacy, comparing Sicilian mariteddu “little husband”.^[5] In Tuscany the same frame is also a prete “priest”.^[4]

Animals with black and white or dark coats or plumage were also named after monks: birds (from Pulci, 15th century), the monk seal (foca monaca), the monk parakeet and the monk saki.^[8][4][6][3] DIFIT lists, with a question mark, the English slang word moniker (before 1849), whose origin the OED calls uncertain.^[9]

Timeline

• Before 420 – Jerome uses Latin monachus and glosses it “solus”.^[5]
• 1100s – The plural monagos appears in Sardinian condaghi.^[5]
• 1278–1279 – The plural monaci is recorded in Florentine texts.^[5]
• 1278–1279 – The feminine monaca is recorded in the same texts.^[5]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses the adjective monacale.^[5]
• 1550 – Vasari uses monaco for the king post of a roof truss.^[5]
• 1838 – German Monaco “monk” is recorded.^[9]
• 1925 – Monaco “bed-warmer frame” is recorded in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. monk, a man who has embraced monasticism, living alone or in a community.^[6][1][3]
2. A member of a male monastic order who has taken solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and follows a rule: un monaco trappista.^[6][3]
3. (architecture) king post, the vertical central post of some roof trusses.^[6][5]
4. A wooden frame for holding a pan of embers in a bed to warm it; also called prete.^[6][5][4]
5. (zoology) Short for parrocchetto monaco (monk parakeet) and pitecia monaco (monk saki); also the monk seal and its genus Monachus.^[6][3]

Word family

• monaca
• monacale
• monacare
• monacazione
• monacando
• monacato
• monachesimo
• monachina
• monacella
• monachella
• monachetto
• monacchia

Related words

• monastero
• monastico
• Late Latin monachus
• English monk

Usage notes

GRADIT lists a separate monaco borrowed from French monaco, after the principality of Monaco: a silver and later copper coin with the arms of Monaco, struck in the 17th and 18th centuries, and a French popular dance of the Revolutionary period.^[6][3] The capitalised Monaco is the Italian name of both the principality and Munich.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2493
9. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it