nerezza

Forms

nerezza f (plural nerezze)^[1] The old form is Old Italian negrezza.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

DELI, GRADIT, Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani take it as formed in Italian: it is from Italian nero + -ezza, and DELI and Nocentini list it under that word.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} Zingarelli, Gabrielli and Wiktionary derive it from Latin nigritia (“blackness”), itself from niger (“black”) with the suffix -itia; for them it is the inherited doublet of the borrowed nigrizia.^{[2][3][1][10]} The REW and Körting list the old Old Italian negrezza as the outcome of nigritia, beside Romanian negreață.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the word to before 1320, and DELI's first record is the translation of Crescenzi's agricultural treatise, about 1350, in the sense “the quality of being black”.^[6][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Early texts used it for dark colour in medicine and in moral comparisons: Bartolomeo da San Concordio wrote that fortune né imbianca sanza nerezza, “does not whiten without blackness”, siccome non è monte sanza valle, “as there is no mountain without a valley”.^[13][14] Boccaccio read the blackness of the marsh of the angry as a sign of their melancholic, earthy temper.^[13] Varchi made nerezza the only contrary of bianchezza, whiteness.^[14]

GRADIT adds figurative senses: a gloomy, sullen look, wickedness of character, and a state of decay.^[6] Modern dictionaries call the word uncommon or rare.^[7][8][2][9]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – Nerezza is first recorded.^[6][2]
• c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi uses it.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (uncommon) Blackness: the quality or look of what is black or dark: la nerezza dell'inchiostro sul foglio.^[6][7][8][1]
2. (by extension) A dark, sullen look on the face.^[6]
3. (figurative) Wickedness of character or of an inclination.^[6]
4. (figurative) A state of decay or degradation.^[6]

Related words

• nero
• nigrizia
• Latin nigritia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET