passero

Forms

passero m (plural passeri, diminutive passerotto)^[1] The old form is Old Italian passere, and Old Italian passaro is also recorded.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin passer (“sparrow”), from the accusative ⟨passerem⟩, moved into the masculine class in ⟨-o⟩.^[5][6][2][1] Devoto explains the change by a northern tradition of words that had lost their final vowel.^[7] The form Vulgar Latin passar is condemned in the Appendix Probi.^[8]

In Late Latin glosses the word also meant “bird” in general, from the 5th century, a sense kept in Romanian pasăre (“bird”), Spanish pájaro (“bird”) and Portuguese pássaro (“bird”).^[6][9][10] The other Romance outcomes are Old French passe, Occitan paser and Catalan passara (“kingfisher”);^[6][10][9] The diminutive French passereau (1539) is French.^[6][10][9]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[5][11][12] Schrijver derives it from Proto-Indo-European *p(e)t-tro- (“flyer, bird”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to fly”), through Proto-Italic *pattro- whose irregular paradigm split into this word and Latin pārus (“tit”); de Vaan objects that such a formation should rather mean “wing”.^[12][1] Devoto noted that the word has no clear connections outside Latin and that inside Latin its formation matches only anser (“goose”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Accurso di Cremona, a Messinese text of 1321–1337, in the sense “sparrow”;^[4][13][6] GRADIT and Nocentini date the word before 1321.^[4][13][6] DELI gives the feminine passera in Cavalca before 1342 and passero in Petrarch before 1374.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch's passer solitario is the blue rock thrush, named for its solitary habits; there passero keeps the general sense “bird”.^[9][4] In the 16th century Lodovico Dolce wrote that a sparrow could signify lust and cunning, the bird having both.^[14]

The diminutive passerotto is older than the base word (pasaroto, late 13th century); it meant a blunder in the 15th century and a riddle that looks hard but is easy in 1950.^[5][9] Passeraio, the twittering of many sparrows, also meant chatter from Salvini (before 1729).^[5] The zoological passeracei date from 1875.^[5]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Pasaroto appears in the Serventese on the wars of the Lambertazzi and Geremei.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Passero is first recorded.^[13][6]
• 1321–1337 – Accurso di Cremona uses passero.^[4]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses passera.^[5]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses passero.^[5]
• Before 1729 – Salvini uses passeraio for chatter.^[5]
• 1875 – Lessona uses passeracei for the order of perching birds.^[5]
• 1950 – Passerotto is recorded for an easy riddle.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. sparrow: a small, common grey-brown bird with a short conical beak, living near houses: Ogni mattina un passero viene a beccare sul balcone.^[13][15][16]
2. The name of various birds of other genera and families: passero solitario, the blue rock thrush.^[15][16][17]
3. (zoology, capitalised) The genus Passer.^[13][2]

Word family

• passerotto
• passerino
• passeraio
• passeraceo
• passera

Related words

• Latin passer
• Spanish pájaro

Usage notes

The feminine passera names the female and is also used for the bird in general;^[18][17][3] Tommaseo–Bellini enters the word under passera.^[18][17][3] Lingue di passero is a kind of flat pasta.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 764
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET