onore

Forms

onore m (plural onori)^[1] Old variants include Old Italian aonore and Old Italian aunore.^[2]

Etymology

DELI and the GDLI treat it as a learned word, borrowed from Latin honor (“honour, esteem; public office”), from the accusative ⟨honōrem⟩.^[3][2][4] Wiktionary and Nocentini instead derive it by direct descent from Latin, and Nocentini lists the Romance outcomes Old French enor, Old Occitan enor, Catalan onor and Spanish honor; modern French honneur was remade on the Latin.^[1][5] Meyer-Lübke adds Dalmatian onaur, and notes that in Carolingian Latin, Old French, Old Occitan and Old Spanish the word also meant “fief”.^[6] DEI starts from Late Latin honor, which replaced classical honōs, still used in the Empire.^[7]

The origin of the Latin noun is unknown.^[3][5][1] De Vaan finds that ⟨hon-⟩ can only go back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰon- or *gʰon-, but that no cognates are known.^[8][1] Devoto and the GDLI connect it with an old neuter ⟨*honus⟩, the base of honestus and Italian onesto.^[9][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the 12th-century Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, in the sense “homage, deference”.^[3] The sense “glory, fame” follows in the Breve di Montieri of 1219, the date GRADIT gives for the word.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word took in moral integrity (Guido Faba), a good name and the sense of one's own dignity (Chiaro Davanzati), the worship of God (in the Judaeo-Italian Elegia), and special treatment given to a person (Brunetto Latini).^[3] High office is recorded in Giordano da Pisa, before 1311, and an honour granted as a mark of distinction in Giovanni Villani.^[3] Dante writes of the poets in Limbo: “Fannomi onore, e di ciò fanno bene” (they do me honour, and in that they do well).^[10]

Several phrases came from French: fare gli onori di casa translates faire les honneurs de la maison and is recorded in the 17th century, and avere l'onore was common in the 18th.^[3] The adjective onorevole became the title of members of parliament in 1780, after French and ultimately English usage, and the noun onorevole “MP” is recorded in 1867.^[3] Onorario “fee”, recorded in 1585, was money given as a mark of honour, since a lawyer's or doctor's service was thought too noble to be priced.^[3] In card games onori are the high cards (1939–1940).^[3]

Timeline

• 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio has onore for homage.^[3]
• 1219 – The Breve di Montieri uses it for glory and fame.^[3][4]
• 13th century – Guido Faba uses it for moral integrity.^[3]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for special treatment.^[3]
• Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for a high office.^[3]
• 1585 – Onorario “fee” is recorded in Tommaso Garzoni.^[3]
• 17th century – Fare gli onori di casa is recorded.^[3]
• 1780 – Onorevole is used as the title of members of parliament.^[3]
• 1939–1940 – Onore is recorded in card games.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. honour, a person's good name and moral integrity: Ha difeso il suo onore davanti a tutti, parola d'onore, word of honour.^[4][11][12]
2. (dated) In some societies, a woman's chastity and the family's reputation tied to it.^[4][12][13]
3. glory, credit, something to be proud of: Questa vittoria è un onore per tutta la città.^[4][12][13]
4. A privilege, especially in polite formulas: Ho l'onore di presentarvi il nostro ospite.^[4][12]
5. A mark of respect or esteem; in the plural, honours: La squadra è stata ricevuta in municipio con tutti gli onori, in onore di, in honour of.^[4][12][14]
6. Worship paid to God or the saints.^[4][3]
7. (card games) An honour card.^[3][4]

Word family

• onorare
• onorato
• onorevole
• onoranza
• onorabile
• onorabilità
• onoratezza
• disonore

Related words

• onorifico
• onorario
• onorificenza
• onesto
• Latin honor

Usage notes

Common phrases include fare onore a “to do credit to”, fare onore al piatto “to eat with appetite”, a onor del vero “to tell the truth” and damigella d'onore “bridesmaid”.^[4][15] The delitto d'onore, a killing for “honour” once punished lightly, was abolished in 1981.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2658
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ 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 e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli