morbido

Forms

morbido (feminine morbida, masculine plural morbidi, feminine plural morbide, superlative morbidissimo)^[1] Popular Tuscan mòrvido is found in Cellini in the 16th century.^[2][3][4] DEI gives a northern mòrbio, and Körting a Milanese morbi.^[2][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin morbidus (“sickly, unhealthy”), from morbus (“disease”).^[6][7][8][1] Since illness makes one weak, the sense moved in Italo-Romance from “sickly” to “limp, yielding” and then to “tender, soft to the touch”.^[6][7][1] DEI finds the Latin word already in this sense in the 8th and 9th centuries, and Zaccaria cites a use by Jerome.^[2][9] DELI points out that the word has popular continuants in the dialects, and DEI places them in northern Italy and Tuscany.^[6][2] Zingarelli, by contrast, classes it as a learned word.^[10]

The scholar Muratori proposed a Germanic origin, from the word that is German mürbe (“tender”) and Old High German murwi.^[9] Diez preferred the Latin word, and Zaccaria agrees: the Germanic forms would have given an Italian ⟨morvo⟩ and would not explain the ending ⟨-ido⟩.^[9]

French morbide “morbid” is a learned borrowing from Latin; in the sense “soft”, used of painting, it is a loan from Italian, and so is Spanish mórbido.^[7][2] The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^[11][1] De Vaan suggests a link with mors (“death”) and morior (“to die”), as if “looking like death”, though the formation is unusual; another possibility is a non-Indo-European root seen in Ancient Greek μόρον (móron, “black mulberry”).^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from before 1292, in Bono Giamboni, for something soft and yielding: in Paradise non si tocca altro che morbida cosa (“one touches nothing but soft things”).^[6][13] Zingarelli dates the word to before 1250.^[10]

Semantic evolution

By 1313 the word also meant smooth and delicate to the touch, and Boccaccio used it figuratively for a gentle, yielding character (1348–1353).^[6] Old Italian also used it for refined, soft or effeminate living, as in Boccaccio's morbide camere of the rich.^[14][15] The noun morbidezza appears about 1350 in the Italian Crescenzi, and Villani used it for effeminacy.^[6][3]

In art criticism morbido described a soft, harmonious handling of light and colour from 1550.^[16] French borrowed it as morbide in this sense (1650 according to DEI, 1690 according to the Grand Robert), German as morbido (1838), and English took over morbidezza as a painting term in 1624.^[2][16] The sense “light, hazy” is found in Carducci (1893), and the noun il morbido, a soft place or thing, from 1869.^[6] Carducci also used the adjective for “morbid”, a sense now literary.^[4][10]

Modern uses include soft wine, loose-fitting clothes, a conciliatory political line (linea morbida) and a smooth landing (atterraggio morbido).^[8][17][15]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – First record, in Bono Giamboni.^[6]
• 1313 – Sense “smooth and delicate to the touch”.^[6]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for a yielding, gentle character.^[6]
• About 1350 – Morbidezza in the Italian Crescenzi.^[6]
• 1550 – The word is used in art for soft, harmonious colouring.^[16]
• 1624 – Morbidezza passes into English as a painting term.^[2]
• 1869 – The noun il morbido is recorded.^[6]
• 1893 – Carducci uses it for “light, hazy”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. soft and pleasant to the touch, smooth: Questo maglione è morbidissimo.^[8][17][4]
2. Yielding to light pressure, comfortable: un divano morbido.^[8][17]
3. Soft in consistency, malleable: argilla morbida.^[8][17][10]
4. tender, of food that is well cooked or ripe: Lascia cuocere le patate finché sono morbide.^[8][17]
5. Of wine or liqueur, full and smooth in taste.^[8][17][10]
6. Of outlines and shapes, gently curving; of clothes, loose-fitting rather than tight.^[8][17][10]
7. (figurative) Light and gentle: un atterraggio morbido.^[8][17]
8. (figurative) Docile, compliant; of a policy or attitude, conciliatory: Il sindacato ha preferito una linea morbida.^[8][17][4]
9. (art) Of a painting or sculpture, harmonious in tones and delicate in handling; of a literary or musical style, smooth and rich in nuance.^[8][4][18]
10. (photography) Of film or paper, giving images with little contrast.^[8][14]
11. (literary) Morbid, unhealthily languid.^[4][10]

Noun

1. Something soft; a soft place: Il cane si è sdraiato sul morbido.^{[4][10][18][1]}

Word family

• morbidezza
• ammorbidire
• ammorbidente
• ammorbidimento
• rammorbidire
• morbidamente
• morbidità
• morbidone

Related words

• morbo
• Latin morbus
• French morbide

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2506
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 677
4. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10, 1
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
18. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana