orecchio

Forms

orecchio m (plural (in the literal meaning) orecchie f or (figuratively) orecchi m)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian orechio, Old Italian oreglio, Old Italian orezo and Old Italian urecchio.^[2] The feminine orecchia is the form of northern Italy, as in Old Milanese orege (before 1315) and Old Venetian oregla.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is the masculine form of orecchia, which is inherited from Latin ōricula, a variant of auricula (“little ear; outer ear”), the diminutive of auris (“ear”).^[3][5][6][1] In popular Latin the diminutive replaced the plain word: the “Appendix Probi” corrects “auris non oricla”, and the form with ⟨o⟩ is already found in Cicero, Pliny and Petronius, perhaps influenced by Latin oculus (“eye”).^[3][4] The LEI compares the same replacement in Greek, where the Koine used the diminutive Ancient Greek ὠτίον (ōtíon) for Ancient Greek οὖς (oûs), and names the reasons scholars have offered: affective speech, the dropping of short words, the avoidance of homophones.^[4] The same word is French oreille, Occitan aurelha, Catalan orella, Spanish oreja, Portuguese orelha, Sardinian origa and Romanian ureche.^[5][7]

The masculine is Tuscan, also used in Umbria and Lazio; standard Italian took it from Florentine, while the rest of Italy, like the western Romance languages, has the feminine.^[3][2][8] Rohlfs, quoted by DELI, explains it from the Old Italian plural “le orecchia”, like “le ginocchia”, from which a singular “orecchio” was made after the pattern of “ginocchia” : ginocchio.^[3][9] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli see the analogy of occhio, helped by the frequent pairing “occhi e orecchi”.^[5][10]

Latin “auris” comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu(-)s- (“ear”), the source also of Ancient Greek οὖς (oûs), Lithuanian ausìs, Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍉 (auso) and Old High German ōra.^[11][5] De Vaan notes that the stem may be related to the root of Latin audiō (“to hear”), and that the older form without rhotacism survives in auscultō (“to listen”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of orecchio is the Novellino (late 13th century), in the sense “outer ear”; the feminine orecchia is recorded in 1268, in the Italian translation of Albertanus of Brescia.^[3] Dante uses both forms in the Commedia, the feminine in rhyme.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the word for the hearing itself and has aprire gli orecchi “to pay attention” (1300–1313); Boccaccio writes dare gli orecchi “to listen” (1341–1342), and dare orecchio is recorded in 1532.^[3] The sense “ear for music” is recorded for orecchia before 1647 (Giovanni Battista Doni) and for orecchio in 1814;^[3] cantare a orecchio, to sing without reading music, is in Giuseppe Giusti (1835).^[3] Manzoni's “Don Abbondio was deaf in that ear” (1840–1842) lies behind da quest'orecchio non ci sento, “I won't hear of it”.^[3]

The derivative orecchino “earring” appears in Lombard documents of 1469 and 1475 and in Sperone Speroni in 1561.^[3] Many fixed phrases use the word: fare orecchie da mercante “to turn a deaf ear”, essere tutto orecchi “to be all ears”, mettere una pulce nell'orecchio “to sow a suspicion”, anche i muri hanno orecchi “the walls have ears”.^[6][12][13]

Timeline

• 1268 – The feminine orecchia is recorded in a translation of Albertanus of Brescia.^[3]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses orecchio for the outer ear.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for the sense of hearing.^[3]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio writes dare gli orecchi “to listen”.^[3]
• 1469 – Orecchino “earring” appears in a Lombard document.^[3]
• Before 1647 – Giovanni Battista Doni uses orecchia for a musical ear.^[3]
• 1814 – Orecchio is recorded in the sense “ear for music”.^[3]
• 1835 – Giuseppe Giusti has cantare a orecchio.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The ear, each of the two organs of hearing and balance on the sides of the head, orecchio interno, medio, esterno, the inner, middle and outer ear: Da piccolo soffriva spesso di mal d'orecchi.^[6][10][12]
2. The outer ear, the auricle: Con quel vento gelido aveva le orecchie viola.^[6][9]
3. hearing; the sense by which sounds reach a person: Da quando è caduto non sente più da un orecchio.^[9][10][1]
4. An ear for music, the ability to recognize and reproduce sounds: avere orecchio, suonare a orecchio, to play by ear.^[9][3][1]
5. Something shaped like an ear, such as the turned-down corner of a page.^[1][6]

Word family

• orecchino
• orecchione
• orecchiuto
• orecchietta
• orecchiare
• orecchiabile
• orecchiante

Related words

• orecchia
• otico
• auricolare
• ascoltare
• Latin auris
• French oreille

Usage notes

In the literal sense the usual plural is the feminine le orecchie; the masculine gli orecchi is used in anatomy and medicine and in some figurative phrases.^[1][12][14] The old plural le orecchia is obsolete.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2384
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2670
9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana