novero

Forms

novero m (plural noveri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin numerus (“number; list”) in its popular development, with /m/ changed to /v/ by dissimilation from the /n/ before it.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary sets up the steps *nomero, *nombero and *nobero.^[1] DEI compares the dissimilation of the nasals in Lombard rómen and Friulian lùmar.^[6] numero is the learned doublet of the same Latin word.^[1][3]

The same Latin word gave French nombre, Occitan nombre, Catalan nombre and Romanian număr, while Spanish and Portuguese have the learned Spanish número.^[3][7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *nomeso-; de Vaan explains it as a thematized form of the s-stem seen in Latin nemus, with the o-grade taken from the root noun meaning “rank, number”.^[8] The root is Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to assign, allot”), also in Ancient Greek νέμω (némō, “to distribute”) and νόμος (nómos, “custom, law”).^[8][1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, in the sense “category, class, number”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian novero was the ordinary word for “number” and “count”.^[5][9] Giovanni Villani tells how the number of children baptized in San Giovanni at Florence was kept: Ogni maschio che si battezzava in san Giovanni, per averne il novero, metteva una fava nera, e per ogni femmina una fava bianca, “for every boy a black bean was set aside, and for every girl a white one, to have the count”.^[5] Varchi could still write that what the Greeks call aritmo “we call novero”.^[9] The verb noverare “to count” follows in 1303–1306 in Giordano da Pisa.^[2] Old phrases were fare il novero “to count” and recare a novero “to number”.^[9]

The learned numero took over the arithmetical sense, and novero became literary or archaic in it; it lives on in the sense “group, circle”, in phrases such as nel novero di.^[10][11][12]

Timeline

• Late 1200s – The Novellino uses novero.^[2]
• 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses the verb noverare.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group, class or circle of people or things, chiefly in nel novero di: Anche lui rientra nel novero dei finalisti.^{[12][11][4][10][1]}
2. (archaic, literary) A number, a count.^[12][11][13]
3. (literary) An enumeration, a listing.^[12][14]

Word family

• noverare

Related words

• numero
• Latin numerus
• French nombre

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2606
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
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. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana