novella

Forms

novella f (plural novelle)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian novela, Old Italian nuvella and Old Italian nubella.^[2] DEI notes nubella in the Ritmo Cassinese.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *novella (“new things”), the neuter plural of the Latin adjective novellus (“new, young”), taken as a feminine singular noun.^[4][1][5][2] DELI, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli describe it instead as the feminine of the adjective novello used as a noun.^[6][7][8] The adjective is formed from novus (“new”) with the diminutive suffix -ellus.^[9][1][10] In Latin the feminine noun novella meant a newly planted vine, and the late plural named new imperial laws.^[3][1]

In the sense “news” the same Latin form gave French nouvelle and Occitan novella.^[4] In the sense “tale”, the French word (15th century) and Spanish novela were borrowed from Italian.^[4][3][2] Devoto traces the change of meaning from “novelty” to “news” and then to a short, lively story.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Novellino, a collection of tales from the end of the 13th century, which uses the word both for news, especially fresh news, and for the telling of a real or invented event.^[6] There a wife greets her husband with che novelle?, “what news?”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian novella was first of all a new or strange thing, often in questions of surprise: Boccaccio has a wife ask che novella è, che tu così tosto torni a casa stamane?, “what is this new thing, that you come home so early this morning?”.^[2][7] It also meant talk or conversation, as in Dante's per che nostra novella si ristette, “so our talk stopped”, and idle chatter or gossip;^[7][5][8] mettere in novelle was to make fun of someone.^[7][5][8]

Boccaccio's Decameron tells a hundred novelle, short narratives in prose.^[12][6] The derivatives followed: novellare “to tell stories” before 1292, novellatore at the end of the 13th century, novelletta in 1353, novelliere before 1342 and novellista in 1640.^[6] La buona novella, “the good news”, is the Gospel, rendering Greek εὐαγγέλιον.^[5] From Late Latin Novellae (constitutiones), novella is also a law that amends a code, such as the novels of Justinian.^[5][7]

French nouvelle took it in 1414.^[13] English borrowed novel about 1500 for one of the tales of collections like the Decameron, and by 1639 used it for a long prose narrative.^[13] Novella itself entered English in 1677 according to the OED,^[13] or in 1901 as a word for a short novel.^[14] German Novelle meant news in 1564 and a prose tale from 1772.^[13] Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Portuguese and other languages also borrowed the word.^[1]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses novella for news and for a tale.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Novellare, “to tell stories”, is recorded in Giamboni.^[6]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses novelletta.^[6]
• 1414 – French nouvelle is first recorded for a prose tale.^[13]
• About 1500 – English novel appears for one of the tales of a collection.^[13]
• 1564 – German Novelle is first recorded, meaning news.^[13]
• 1640 – Novellista “writer of tales” appears in Oudin.^[6]
• 1677 – English novella is recorded.^[13]
• 1908 – Novellistica, the genre and art of the tale, is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literature) A tale or short story: a narrative, usually in prose, of real or imagined events, shorter than a novel; also the genre: Il volume raccoglie dodici novelle ambientate in un paese di montagna.^[8][10][7]
2. (literary) News, tidings of something new or recent;^[8][5][15] la buona novella, the Gospel.^[8][5][15]
3. (archaic) Talk, conversation; idle chatter, gossip;^[8][10][15] mettere in novelle, to make fun of someone.^[8][10][15]
4. (law) Each of the new laws of a Roman or Byzantine emperor that amended an earlier code; by extension, a statute that amends or adds to a code.^[7][10][5]

Word family

• novellame
• novellare
• novellatore
• novelletta
• novelliere
• novellista
• novellistica
• contronovella
• novellaio
• novelleggiare
• novellistico
• novellizzazione

Related words

• novello
• nuovo
• Latin novellus
• French nouvelle

Usage notes

Novella is also the feminine of the adjective novello, “new, early”, as in patate novelle, “new potatoes”.^[10] The musical novelletta, a short narrative piece for piano, comes from German Novellette, Schumann's title.^[6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2605
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli