Etymologically
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periodo

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Pronunciation

  • /peˈri.o.do/[1]

Forms

periodo m (plural periodi)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin periodus (“a rounded sentence; a cycle”), from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “a going round, circuit, cycle”).[2][3][4][1] The Greek noun is a compound of περί (perí, “around”) and ὁδός (hodós, “way, road”).[2][3][1][5] DELI cites the view that the prefix here means “wandering” more than “round”.[2] DEI also names French période, recorded from the 14th century, beside the Latin word.[6] The same learned word is Spanish período.[3]

The derivative periodico is Latin periodicus, from περιοδικός (periodikós), and “periodicità” may be French “périodicité” (1665).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Francesco da Buti's commentary on the Purgatorio (1385–1395, Pisan), in two senses: the closing stage of a human life, and the punctuation mark that ends a sentence.[7] DELI's earliest dated sense is the sentence, in Matteo Bandello in 1554;[2][3][8] Nocentini dates it to before 1525 and DELI rejects an earlier record attributed to Giordano da Pisa.[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a stretch of time took longer to settle: Giordano Bruno used the word for the circuit of a star in its orbit (before 1600), and it named a stage of an illness in 1644.[2] DELI's first record for an interval of time marked by particular events is Giovanni Battista Rocchi in 1651;[2][4][3][8] GRADIT gives 1603, and Nocentini and Devoto–Oli put this sense in the 18th century.[2][4][3][8] Old Italian also had a feminine plural le periodi.[9]

Specialist senses followed: in music a group of phrases with a complete sense (1765), in geology a subdivision of an era (1879), in physics the time of a full cycle (1958) and in mathematics the repeating digits of a decimal (1965).[2] In chemistry each row of the periodic table is a periodo.[10][11] The phrase andare a periodi means to be changeable.[8][10]

Timeline

  • 1350 – The adjective periodico is recorded in Pietro de' Crescenzi.[2]
  • 1385–1395 – Francesco da Buti uses periodo.[7]
  • 1554 – Matteo Bandello uses it for a sentence.[2]
  • Before 1600 – Giordano Bruno uses it for the circuit of a star.[2]
  • 1644 – It names a stage of an illness.[2]
  • 1651 – It is used for an interval of time.[2]
  • 1765 – The musical sense is recorded.[2]
  • 1879 – Angelo Secchi uses it for a geological period.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A period or span of time: Ho lavorato a Torino per un periodo di sei mesi.[4][8][12]
  2. A phase of life marked by particular conditions: Sta attraversando un periodo difficile.[4][8][12]
  3. A historical epoch, or a phase in an artist's work: il periodo napoleonico.[4][8][13]
  4. (grammar) A sentence of two or more clauses with a complete sense.[4][10]
  5. (geology) A subdivision of an era: il Giurassico è un periodo del Mesozoico.[4][12][10]
  6. (music) A group of musical phrases forming a complete unit.[4][10]
  7. (physics) The time after which a periodic phenomenon repeats itself.[4][12][13]
  8. (astronomy) The time a body takes to complete a rotation or an orbit.[4][12][13]
  9. (chemistry) A row of the periodic table.[10][11][1]
  10. (mathematics) The group of digits that repeats in a recurring decimal.[12][10]
  11. (medicine) A stage of an illness or a physiological process: il periodo di incubazione.[12][10]

Word family

  • periodare
  • periodico
  • periodicità
  • periodizzare
  • periodizzazione
  • periodicista
  • semiperiodo
  • sottoperiodo
  • periodicamente
  • Latin periodus
  • French période

Usage notes

In grammar periodo ipotetico is the conditional sentence, and analisi del periodo the analysis of a sentence into its clauses.[4][10] In economics breve periodo and lungo periodo are the short and the long run.[13][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 326
  6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2855
  7. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 38
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana