palermitano

Forms

palermitano (feminine palermitana, masculine plural palermitani, feminine plural palermitane)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian Palermo + -itano, from the name of the Sicilian city.^[2][3][4] The ending follows Latin Panormitānus, the Latin adjective of the city's name, which Wiktionary and DEI give as the model.^[1][5]

The Latin adjective is formed from Panormus with the suffix -itānus.^[1] The Latin city name is from Ancient Greek Πάνορμος (Pánormos), a compound of παν- (pan-, “all”) and ὅρμος (hórmos, “anchorage”).^[1] DEI traces the Italian city name to a Latin *Panermus, a sound adaptation of the Greek name.^[5] The Sicilian surname Palermiti belongs with it.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Boccaccio, between 1348 and 1353, in the Decameron: “Tutti i Palermitani uomini e donne concorsero a vedere i due amanti” (“all the people of Palermo, men and women, ran to see the two lovers”).^[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant both “of Palermo” and, as a noun, a native or inhabitant of the city since Boccaccio.^[6][2] As a noun it also names the dialect of Palermo, and with a capital, il Palermitano, the territory around the city.^[2][7][1]

Spanish and Portuguese have the same form palermitano, French has palermitain, and English has Palermitan.^[1]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or from Palermo, the capital of Sicily: la cucina palermitana.^[2][8][9]

Noun

1. A native or inhabitant of Palermo.^[2][10][8]
2. The dialect of Palermo.^[2][9][11]
3. (with a capital, singular only) The territory around Palermo, the province of Palermo.^[2][3][7]

Related words

• Latin Panormitānus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2730
6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 395
7. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli