palazzo

Forms

palazzo m (plural palazzi, relational adjective palaziale, diminutive palazetto m or palazina f, augmentative palazzone)^[1] The old literary form is palagio; other old and dialect forms include palatiu, palazio and palàsio.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin palātium (“palace”), originally the name of the Palatine Hill in Rome, Palātium, where Augustus fixed the emperors' residence, and then the imperial palace that stood there.^[2][5][6][1] In late Latin it came to mean any royal hall, and DEI notes that it is steadily attested in the Latin of Italy from the 6th to the 11th century.^[7] The word is pan-Romance: French palais, Occitan palatz, Catalan palau, Spanish palacio, Portuguese paço.^[5][8] Through a Vulgar Latin *palantia it passed into Old High German pfalanza, whence German Pfalz “Palatinate”.^[5][7]

The origin of the hill's name is uncertain: DELI and Devoto connect it with a pre-Latin base *pala (“roundness”);^[2][9][10] Wiktionary lists other proposals, such as a link with the Arcadian city of Pallantium.^[1]

The old variant palagio is attributed by Nocentini to northern phonetics, and by Meyer-Lübke to French.^[5][8] In the 16th century, writers who favoured a common Italian over Florentine chose the form closer to Latin over the variant.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is palatiu in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio (12th century), for a great noble building;^[2][11] palagio and palazzo both appear in the Novellino (late 13th century).^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Already in the late 13th century the word meant a prince's court, and in Venetian it named the seat of government or of a court in 1299.^[2] In old Tuscan andare a palazzo meant going to the law courts, and a proverb wished for “bread in the square, justice in the palace”.^[12] In southern Italy and once in Dalmatia palazzo simply meant “house”.^[7][8] In 1581 Francesco Sansovino remarked that no city in Europe had more palaces than Venice, though the Venetians modestly called them case, keeping the name palazzo for the Doge's.^[2][12]

Today a palazzo is also any large apartment block, and in journalism il Palazzo is the political power seen as remote and self-serving.^[6][11] English borrowed palazzo for a large imposing building (1657 in the form palazza, OED; 1660s, Etymonline), German in 1730 and French at the end of the 19th century.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 12th century – Palatiu appears in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Palazzo and palagio appear in the Novellino.^[2]
• 1299 – In Venetian it names the seat of government or of a court.^[2]
• 1581 – Sansovino writes on the palaces of Venice.^[2]
• 1657 – English palazza is recorded.^[13]
• 1730 – German Palazzo is recorded.^[13]
• 1768 – Palazzina is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A palace, a large, architecturally imposing building, once a noble residence and now often housing public offices or a museum: Il museo ha sede in un palazzo del Seicento.^[6][9][11]
2. The residence or court of a sovereign: intrighi di palazzo, palace intrigues.^[6][9][15]
3. A large apartment building, a block of flats: Abitano in un palazzo di periferia.^[6][11][15]
4. A building for a public purpose: palazzo di giustizia, law courts, palazzo dello sport, indoor arena.^[9][15][16]
5. (journalism) il Palazzo: political power, seen as remote and self-serving.^[6][11][15]
6. (archaic) The court of law.^[6][11][15]

Word family

• palazzina
• palazzetto
• palazzotto
• palazzone
• palazzaccio
• palazzinaro

Related words

• paladino
• Palatinato
• palatino
• Palatino
• Latin palātium
• French palais
• English palace

Usage notes

A minor word palazzo “pile”, one of the large piles of a harbour's palisade, is recorded in Giovanni Villani; the GDLI derives it from palo.^[3] Palazzo Chigi is used for the Italian prime minister's office, and palazzo Madama for the Senate.^[9][17][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 727
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2728
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana