palagio

Forms

palagio m (plural palagi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin palātium (“palace”), the same word as palazzo with a different treatment of the Latin group ⟨-ti-⟩.^[1][2][3] Nocentini and Devoto describe the form as a variant with northern Italian sounds, in which ⟨-ti-⟩ was voiced and then given a Tuscan shape as ⟨gi⟩.^[2][4] Sabatini–Coletti speak of the treatment of ⟨-ti-⟩ typical of the Gallo-Romance varieties.^[3] Meyer-Lübke instead took the Old Italian word from Old French palais,^[5] and the DEI sets it beside the Old French word, which also passed into Middle High German palas.^[6] Medieval Latin pallasium is recorded at Lodi in 924.^[6][7]

The Latin word continues in Old Occitan palatz, Catalan palau, Spanish palacio and Portuguese paço, and it was borrowed as German Pfalz.^[5] Latin palātium was first the name of the Palatine Hill in Rome and then of the imperial palace that stood on it.^[8][1] DELI takes the hill's name probably from a pre-Indo-European word meaning “roundness”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI finds palagio and palazzo side by side in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, meaning “a great lordly building”.^[8][3] Northern texts have other forms: Uguccione da Lodi writes grand palasio “great palace”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In 14th-century Tuscan prose palagio was the ordinary word for a palace or a large fine house: Dante's camminata di palagio and Boccaccio's lament over “how many great palaces, how many fine houses” emptied by the plague both use it.^[7][9] Used alone it meant the palace of the podestà or another public palace, as in Boccaccio's menaronnelo a palagio “they took him to the palace”.^[10]

In the 16th century the supporters of a “common” Italian rejected the too local forms of Florentine and preferred those closer to Latin, palazzo rather than palagio.^[8] The form then became literary and archaic, still used by Pulci and Parini.^[10] It survives in place names of Florence and Pisa and in the names of some historic Florentine buildings.^[2][10][6]

Timeline

• 924 – Medieval Latin pallasium is recorded at Lodi.^[6][7]
• Late 1200s – Palagio and palazzo both appear in the Novellino.^[8]
• 1300s – Palagio is used in the Tristano.^[6]
• 1500s – Advocates of a common Italian prefer palazzo to Florentine palagio.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary, archaic) A palace, a large and splendid residence; the same as palazzo.^[10][11][1]
2. (historical) The palace of the podestà or another public palace in a medieval city.^[10][3][1]

Related words

• palazzo
• Latin palatium
• French palais

Usage notes

The form is kept by tradition in the names of some Florentine buildings, such as the Palagio di Parte Guelfa and the Palagio dell'Arte della Lana.^[10][2] Tommaseo records the Tuscan saying tenere col Palagio, “to side with the palace”, that is, with whoever holds power.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2725
7. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 378
8. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET