musicale

Forms

musicale m or f by sense (plural musicali)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin musicalis, an adjective formed in Medieval Latin from Latin mūsica (“music”).^[2][3][4][1] The first record DELI gives is from before 1304, in a vernacular translation of Plutarch.^[2][3]

The Latin noun mūsica was from Ancient Greek μουσική (mousikḗ, “(the art) of the Muses”), from Μοῦσα (Moûsa, “Muse”).^[1][5] The Latin adjective was built with the suffix -ālis, meaning “pertaining to”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its first records, in a vernacular Plutarch from before 1304 and in a Venetian health manual of the 14th century, the word means “of music”, belonging to music as an art or as a practice.^[2][6] Tommaseo quotes the Plutarch translation on things “more pleasing than all musical things”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The Old Italian forms were musical, musicale and musicali.^[6] The early writers used the word of instruments, of composition and of music schools; a 14th-century agricultural text speaks of the wood put in the bodies of lutes and guitars, strumenti musicali.^[7]

By 1808 Saverio Bettinelli used it of things that sound like music, harmonious and sonorous, and in 1835 Giacomo Leopardi applied it to people inclined to music, writing of minds that were “less, so to speak, musical” there than anywhere else.^[2] Linguistics uses accento musicale for an accent made by raising the pitch of the voice rather than by stress.^[8][9] Modern compounds include commedia musicale and film musicale, shows in which singing and dancing alternate with spoken scenes.^[4][10]

Timeline

• Before 1304 – A vernacular translation of Plutarch has the first record, “of music”.^[2]
• 14th century – A Venetian health manual uses the word.^[6]
• Before 1808 – Saverio Bettinelli uses it for “harmonious, like music”.^[2]
• 1835 – Giacomo Leopardi uses it of people with a feeling for music.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to music or to musicians: Il suo strumento musicale preferito è il violino.^[4][11][8]
2. (by extension) Pleasant to the ear like music, harmonious, melodious: una voce musicale.^[4][8][9]
3. Having a natural sensitivity or bent for music: avere orecchio musicale.^[4][11][12]
4. (linguistics) Of an accent: made by raising the pitch of the voice: accento musicale.^[11][8][10]

Word family

• musicalità
• amusicale
• immusicale
• musicalmente
• premusicale

Related words

• musica
• musicista
• Latin mūsica

Usage notes

Common set phrases are commedia musicale, liceo musicale, scala musicale and strumento musicale.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli