normale

Forms

normale (plural normali, superlative normalissimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin normālis (“made with a carpenter's square, perpendicular”), from norma (“carpenter's square; rule”).^[2][3][4][5] GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti also point to French normal, recorded from the early 15th century, and DELI notes that the derivatives normalité and normaliser also reached Italian.^[6][7][2] DEI calls it a learned word and takes the school sense, ⟨scuola normale⟩, from French ⟨école normale⟩.^[8]

The origin of norma is uncertain.^[2] Nocentini explains it as an adaptation of the accusative of Ancient Greek γνώμων (gnṓmōn, “carpenter's square, gnomon”), through forms like ⟨*gnomna⟩ and ⟨*gnorma⟩, and finds the Etruscan intermediary usually assumed unnecessary;^[3][1] Wiktionary allows a route through Etruscan.^[3][1] The Greek word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the noun normale “perpendicular line”, in Giovanni Battista Guarini, who died in 1612; it gives the date as before 1683, and GRADIT has the same date.^[2][6] The adjective in the sense “conforming to a rule or to the usual course of things” is recorded in 1791, in the newspaper Notizie del mondo.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century normale spread through public and scientific language: Cavour and De Sanctis wrote of a return to the stato normale and of the vita normale.^[9] The scuole normali trained elementary teachers, meant as a model for all other schools, until the istituti magistrali replaced them in 1923, and the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa was founded in 1813.^[10] Tommaseo commented sourly that their pupils learned trivial rules instead of common norms.^[11]

Normalità is recorded in 1869.^[2] Normalizzare was in 1923 a political word of the anti-fascists, “to return to the conditions before the March on Rome”, and in technology it meant “to standardize” by 1942; after 1968 normalizzazione took a pejorative sense, “restoration of order”, from Russian, with the occupation of Czechoslovakia.^[2] In mountaineering the via normale, or la normale, is the usual route to a summit (1970).^[2][12]

Timeline

• Before 1683 – Normale “perpendicular line” is recorded in Guarini.^[2]
• 1791 – The adjective “normal” appears in Notizie del mondo.^[2]
• 1813 – The Scuola Normale Superiore is founded at Pisa.^[10]
• 1869 – Normalità is recorded.^[2]
• 1923 – Normalizzare is used in politics.^[2]
• 1923 – The scuole normali are replaced by the istituti magistrali.^[10]
• 1970 – Normale “usual climbing route” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. normal, in line with the norm or with set parameters: La pressione è normale.^[6][4][7]
2. Usual, ordinary, not exceptional: Era una giornata normale, è normale che tu sia stanco.^[6][4][12]
3. Of a person, sane, without eccentricities; in the negative often disapproving: Non è normale arrabbiarsi così.^[6][4][12]
4. That gives a norm or serves as a standard: a lettera normale is a circular from a central office; a pila normale is a reference cell.^[6][12][10]
5. (geometry) perpendicular: una retta normale al piano.^[7][12][10]
6. (chemistry) Of a solution, containing one gram-equivalent of solute per litre.^[12][13]
7. (statistics) distribuzione normale: the normal distribution.^[10][6]

Noun

1. il normale: what is normal, the usual level: Le temperature sono sopra il normale.^[6][7]
2. la normale: (geometry) a perpendicular line, (mountaineering) the usual route to a summit.^[7][2]
3. (colloquial) Regular petrol.^[6]

Word family

• normalità
• normalizzare
• normalmente
• paranormale
• subnormale
• normalista

Related words

• anormale
• norma
• normativo
• Latin normālis
• French normal

Usage notes

La Normale alone means the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa.^[10][13] Tariffa normale is the full fare, without any reduction.^[6][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2600
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 553
10. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli