novello

Forms

novello (feminine novella, masculine plural novelli, feminine plural novelle)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin novellus (“new, young”), a diminutive of novus (“new”), the source of nuovo.^[2][3][4][5] DELI classes it as a learned word, while Nocentini and the REW list it among the words continued in all the Romance languages.^[2][3][6] In Latin the diminutive was said especially of animals and plants, and in Late Latin, in Anthimus, it began to take the place of the simple adjective.^[3][7]

The same word is French nouveau, Occitan noel and Catalan novell, which was borrowed as Spanish novel and Portuguese novel; Sardinian noeḍḍu means “young bullock” and Romanian nuia “rod, young branch”.^[3][6] Spanish novillo (“young bull”) comes from the same adjective said of an bōs (“ox”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Rinaldo d'Aquino, before 1250, in the sense “newly come, newly arisen, newly born”: sento li dolci amori / e li versi novelli (“I hear the sweet loves and the new songs” of the birds).^[2][8][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “newly in a condition” is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, and a Venetian document of 1315 speaks of prevedi noveli, newly ordained priests.^[2] Dante used the word for one who seems to renew someone else, the use of today's un novello Michelangelo.^[2][9] Poetry gave the stagion novella, spring (Boccaccio), and the età novella, youth (Petrarch).^[10] Added to a name, it distinguished a younger namesake, as in Guido Novello.^[9][11]

In Tuscan place names novello meant a chestnut shoot (Novelletto, 1095), and the noun still names the shoot of a plant.^[7][4] In 19th-century navy language it was said of reserve ropes.^[7] Vino novello, a young wine bottled by law before the end of the year of harvest, is a modern use.^[9][11]

Timeline

• 1095 – The Tuscan place name Novelletto is recorded.^[7]
• Before 1250 – Rinaldo d'Aquino has the first record.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it of a person newly in a condition.^[2]
• 1315 – Prevedi noveli “new priests” is recorded at Venice.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it of one who renews another.^[2]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses novellino “new, early”.^[2]
• Before 1587 – Giovan Maria Cecchi uses novellino for a beginner.^[2]
• 1942 – Novellame is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Newly sprouted, born or produced; early: carciofi novelli, pollo novello.^[4][9][12]
2. Newly in a role or condition: sposi novelli, sacerdote novello.^[4][9][13]
3. (literary) Renewing a famous person or thing of the past: un novello Ulisse.^[4][12][13]
4. (of wine) Bottled within the year of the harvest and sold young: vino novello.^[4][9][11]
5. (literary) New, recent, just begun: la stagione novella (spring), l'età novella (youth).^[4][9][14]
6. (nautical) Of reserve rigging, used when the main one fails.^[9][12]

Noun

1. (literary) A sucker or new shoot of a plant.^[4][9][12]
2. (plural) Young fish; the same as novellame.^[4][12]
3. Young wine, vino novello.^[9][13]

Word family

• novellino
• novellamente
• novellame
• novellizia

Related words

• nuovo
• novella
• rinnovellare
• Latin novellus
• French nouveau
• Spanish novillo

Usage notes

Di novello and per novello “anew, for the first time” are obsolete.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2605
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana